Fiji, having made its Olympic debut at the
1956 Summer Games, has competed at fourteen Summer Games and three Winter Games. Its athletes have taken part in archery, athletics, boxing, football, judo, sailing, shooting, swimming, weightlifting and rugby sevens.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, the Fiji rugby team won a gold medal, the country's inaugural Olympic Medal, which they retained at the 2020 Olympics. As of 2020, no other nation won a gold medal in the Olympic men's rugby sevens.
History
Qualifications
Prior to the introduction of
rugby sevens, Fiji's national sport, at the
2016 Summer Olympics, only two athletes had taken part in Olympic Games through reaching the required standards to qualify, rather than by receiving a
wild card invitation. They are
Makelesi Bulikiobo
Makelesi Bulikiobo Batimala (born 23 October 1977) is a Fijian sprinter.
Biography
Nicknamed the "Sprint Queen" by the '' Fiji Times'' and Fiji Village, she has represented her country in several international competitions, including the 2 ...
, who qualified for the
women's 400 metre sprint at the 2008 Games in Beijing, and
Leslie Copeland, who with a throw of 80.45 metres qualified for the
men's javelin event at the 2012 Games in London.
Invitations
Fiji's Winter Olympians were
Rusiate Rogoyawa in
cross-country skiing (1988, 1994) and
Laurence Thoms in
alpine skiing (2002), both participating by invite.
Notable participants
Fiji has had two competitors appear at five separate Summer Olympic Games. Windsurfer
Tony Philp competed in five consecutive Games from Los Angeles in 1984 (when he was just 15 years of age) to Sydney 2000, finishing 10th on two occasions. Swimmer
Carl Probert matched the feat in Beijing 2008, having first appeared at the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona.
Medalling
Fiji earned its
first ever Olympic medal
An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid o ...
at the
2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, a
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
in
Men's Rugby Sevens.
As a result, the winning team broke out in a victory song that drew considerable online attention and Fiji declared a national holiday for the win.
At the
2020 Olympics the team successfully defended its title, while the women's team took a bronze medal.
Medal tables
Medals by Summer Games
Medals by Winter Games
Medals by Summer sport
List of medalists
Summer sports
Multiple medalists
See also
*
List of flag bearers for Fiji at the Olympics
*
Tropical nations at the Winter Olympics
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
*
Fiji at the Paralympics
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Nations at the Olympics
Olympics