David Katoatau (born July 17, 1984) is an I-Kiribati

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

. At the

2007 World Weightlifting Championships The Royal World Weightlifting Championships 2007 were held at the 700th Anniversary Sports Complex in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The event took place from September 17 to September 26, 2007. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Ranking by Big (Tot ...

he ranked 37th in the 85 kg category, with a total of 281 kg. He ranked 4th in the 85 kg category at the 2008 Oceania Weightlifting Championships, with a total of 292 kg.

Career

Katoatau represented

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various types of competition; pro ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, and also was the national flag bearer at the opening ceremony. In the Olympic tournament he ranked 15th in the 85 kg category, with a total of 313 kg. In 2012, he was the first I-Kiribati ever to qualify on merit for the Olympic Games (rather than receive a wildcard invitation), in any sport. He finished first in the Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which also made him Commonwealth champion. As part of Kiribati's delegation at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, he competed in the 94 kg event, and finished 17th out of 21, with a total lift of 325 kg. He was, again, his country's national flag bearer during the Games'

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

. At the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games he won gold in the 105 kg group A, the first ever Commonwealth Games medal for Kiribati. At the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, he became famous for his dance routines, which he did to bring awareness of the

effects of global warming The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea lev ...

on his small island nation, upon completion of a clean & jerk lift. His younger brother Ruben Katoatau is also a weightlifter who qualified for

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

and finished 15th.

Olympics Stats

References

External links

*
Pacific Magazine: Kiribati Sends Three Athletes To Beijing Olympics

Athlete Biography
at beijing2008 1984 births Living people Weightlifters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2012 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic weightlifters of Kiribati I-Kiribati male weightlifters People from Nonouti Weightlifters at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Weightlifters at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Kiribati Commonwealth Games medallists in weightlifting {{Kiribati-weightlifting-bio-stub

Career

Olympics Stats

See also

References

External links