Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's debut in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

, Fijian athletes had taken part in every edition of the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, except for two occasions. Fiji failed to register any athletes at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

in Tokyo, and joined the American-led boycott when Moscow hosted the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee The Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) was founded on 25 March 1949 and achieved International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition on 20 September 1955. It is responsible for entering Fiji's representatives in ...

sent the nation's largest delegation to the Games, due to the attendance of the

men's football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to ...

and rugby sevens teams. A total of 54 athletes, 37 men and 17 women, and 35 officials were registered to the Fijian squad across ten different sports. There was only a single competitor in archery, boxing, judo, shooting, and table tennis, the country's sporting debut apart from the rugby sevens. The Fijian team featured a number of returning Olympians, including archer Rob Elder, javelin thrower Leslie Copeland, swimmer

Matelita Buadromo Matelita Buadromo (born 15 January 1996) is a Fijian swimmer. Buadromo hails from the islands of Moala and Rotuma. She has competed internationally since she was eleven and won a bronze medal at the 2012 Oceania Swimming Championships in the 20 ...

(women's 200 m freestyle), weightlifter

Manueli Tulo Manueli Tulo (born 25 March 1990) is a Fijian weightlifter who competed for Fiji at the 2012 Summer Olympics and at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Both times he competed in the Men's 56kg event, finishing 13th both times. His wife Maria Liku also re ...

(men's 56 kg), and judoka Josateki Naulu (men's 81 kg). 53-year-old trap shooter Glenn Kable, who had competed in every edition since 2004, was the oldest and most experienced member of the team, with 17-year-old table tennis player Sally Yee rounding out the field as the youngest member. Rugby sevens team captain

Osea Kolinisau Osea Kolinisau, OF (born 17 November 1985) is a Fijian rugby union player who plays for Old Glory DC of Major League Rugby (MLR). He captained the Fiji Sevens side to their first olympic gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Early life and edu ...

was selected as Fiji's flag bearer for the opening ceremony. Fiji earned its first ever Olympic medal at these Games, with a gold from the men's rugby sevens team (led by Kolinisau).

Medalists

Archery

One Fijian archer qualified for the men's individual recurve at the Olympics with a top two finish at the Oceania Qualification Tournament in Nuku'alofa. Three-time Olympian Rob Elder scored a personal best of 635 during the qualification round to obtain a fifty-sixth position, before he was beaten three straight set by world no. 9 archer Wei Chun-heng of Chinese Taipei in his opening match.

Athletics

Fiji received two universality places from IAAF to compete in the Olympics. These places were awarded to London 2012 javelin thrower and 2015 Pacific Games gold medalist Leslie Copeland, and sprinter

Sisilia Seavula Sisilia Seavula (born November 15, 1995) is a Fijian sprinter. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Women's 100 metres event. She progressed from the first preliminary round with a time of 12.34 seconds. In the quarterfinal round, Se ...

in the women's 100 metres. Seavula was among the fastest sprinters to progress beyond the prelims, but she finished eighth in the heats, resulting to her elimination. Meanwhile, Copeland threw a best of 76.04 m to obtain the thirty-second position in the qualifying round of the men's javelin throw, unable to improve upon his thirteenth-place feat four years earlier in London. ;Track & road events ;Field events

Boxing

Fiji received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send a male boxer competing in the welterweight division to the Games, signifying the nation's return to the sport for the first time since

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. 2015 Pacific Games silver medalist

Winston Hill Winston Cordell Hill (October 23, 1941 – April 26, 2016) was an American professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL), primarily with the New York Jets. ...

lost his opening round bout to Armenia's

Vladimir Margaryan Vladimir Margaryan ( hy, Վլադիմիր Մարգարյան; born 8 March 1991) is an Armenian boxer. He competed in the men's welterweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 1 ...

through a unanimous decision, with the judges scored 3–0, in favor of the latter boxer.

Football

Men's tournament

Fiji men's football team qualified for the Olympics by winning the Olympic qualifying final at the 2015 Pacific Games Football Tournament in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. ;Team roster ;Group play ---- ----

Judo

Fiji qualified one judoka for the men's light-middleweight category (81 kg) at the Games. London 2012 Olympian Josateki Naulu earned a continental quota spot from the Oceania region as the highest-ranked Fijian judoka outside of direct qualifying position in the IJF World Ranking List of 30 May 2016. Naulu received a bye in the opening round, before facing Uzbekistan's

Shakhzodbek Sabirov Shakhzodbek Sabirov (born May 29, 1993) is an Uzbekistani judoka. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 81 kg event, in which he was eliminated by Travis Stevens Travis Stevens (born February 28, 1986) is an American judoka and ...

for his first match of the meet. He seized an early lead by scoring a yuko, until Sabirov clutched him on the

tatami A is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Tatamis are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about 0.9 m by 1.8 m depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are the floor used for traini ...

with a soto makikomi (outer wraparound) to score an

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In Judo In Judo, an ippon may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the four ...

for a victory at one minute and thirty-one seconds, resulting to Naulu's defeat.

Rugby sevens

Men's tournament

The Fijian men's rugby sevens team qualified for the Olympics by having achieved one of the top four places at the

2014–15 Sevens World Series The 2014–15 Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 16th annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national rugby sevens teams. The Sevens World Series has been run by World Rugby since 19 ...

. ;Team roster ;Group play ---- ---- ;Quarterfinal ;Semifinal ;Gold medal match

Women's tournament

The Fijian women's rugby sevens team qualified for the Olympics by winning the 2015 FORU Women's Sevens Championships. ;Team roster ;Group play ---- ---- ;Quarterfinal ;Classification semifinal (5–8) ;Seventh place match

Shooting

Fiji qualified one shooter in the men's trap by securing one of the available Olympic berths at the 2015 Oceania Continental Championships in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Swimming

Fiji received a Universality invitation from

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

to send two swimmers (one male and one female) to the Olympics.

Table tennis

Fiji entered one athlete into the table tennis competition at the Games for the first time in the nation's Olympic history. Sally Yee secured a spot in the women's singles by virtue of her top three finish at the 2016 Oceania Qualification Tournament in

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

Weightlifting

Fiji qualified one male and one female weightlifter for the Rio Olympics by virtue of a top five national finish (for men) and top four (for women), respectively, at the 2016 Oceania Championships. The team must allocate these places to individual athletes by 20 June 2016.

References

External links

* {{Country at games navbox, Fiji, Olympics

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Nations at the 2016 Summer Olympics