Nauru competed in the

Olympic Games 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 vari ...

for the first time at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

from 19 July to 4 August 1996. The delegation consisted of three weightlifters; Quincy Detenamo, Gerard Garabwan, and

Marcus Stephen Marcus Ajemada Stephen (born 1 October 1969) is a Nauruan politician and former sportsperson who previously was a member of the Cabinet of Nauru, and who served as President of Nauru from December 2007 to November 2011. The son of Nauruan par ...

. Their best performances were by Detenamo, who came 20th in the men's 76 kg category and Garabwan who finished 24th in the men's 91 kg event. Stephen failed to finish his event, but would later become President of the Republic.

Background

Nauru became independent from being a

United Nations trust territory United Nations trust territories were the successors of the remaining League of Nations mandates and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. All of the trust territories were administered through the United Nati ...

on 31 January 1968. The

Nauru Olympic Committee Nauru Olympic Committee (IOC code: NRU) is the National Olympic Committee representing Nauru. It represents and organises the Olympic movement on the island. The NNOC was founded in 1991 and was recognised by the International Olympic Committee ...

was recognized by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

on 1 January 1994. Accordingly, Atlanta was the island nation's first participation in Olympic competition. The 1996 Summer Olympics were held from 19 July to 4 August 1996. The Nauran delegation consisted of three weightlifters; Quincy Detenamo, Gerard Garabwan, and

. The flag bearer for the opening ceremony was Stephen.

Weightlifting

In Olympic weightlifting, each competitor gets three attempts at the snatch, with the highest weight lifted counting. Those who post a mark in the snatch move on to the clean and jerk, where, again, each competitor is allowed three attempts with the best counting. Final results are the sum of the best lift from each technique. Quincy Detenamo was 17 years old at the time of the Atlanta Olympics, and was making his only Olympic appearance. He competed in the men's 76 kilograms category, for those whose body weight was 76 kg or less. In the snatch, he succeeded at 100 kg, 105 kg, and on his last attempt was successful at 110 kg, his mark for this portion of the event. In the clean and jerk, he succeeded at 137.5 kg, before failing twice at 142.5 kg. Detenamio's total mark for the event was therefore 252.5 kg, good for 20th place among 21 classified finishers; the gold medal was won with a mark of 367.5 kg by

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

athlete

Pablo Lara Pablo Lara Rodríguez (born 30 May 1968 in Santa Clara) is a Cuban weightlifter. He won a gold medal in the ''middleweight class'' at the 1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also know ...

. Gerard Garabwan was 25 years of age, and also making his only Olympic appearance. He competed in the men's 91 kg category on 27 July. In the snatch, he lifted 110 kg and 115 kg in his first two attempts, and failed at 120 kg on his third. In the clean and jerk, he lifted 150 kg, before failing twice at 157.5 kg. His total mark was thus 265.0 kg, which put him 24th and last in the event. The gold medal was won by

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Aleksey Petrov with a mark of 402.5 kg.

was 26 years old at the time of these Games, and was making his second Olympic appearance; he had previously represented Samoa at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He competed in the men's 59 kg category on 21 July. In the snatch, he failed all three attempts at 120 kg, and was eliminated from the competition. Stephen would return to represent Nauru at the 2000 Summer Olympics, and would later serve as the

President of Nauru The president of Nauru is elected by Parliament from among its members, and is both the head of state and the head of government of Nauru. Nauru's unicameral Parliament has 19 members, with an electoral term of 3 years. Political parties onl ...

from 2007 to 2011.

References

{{NOCin1996SummerOlympics Nations at the 1996 Summer Olympics 1996 1996 in Nauruan sport