Niusila Opeloge is a

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 lift ...

from

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

. He was suspended for a doping violation in 2007 for two years. He is considered a PED enhanced lifter.

Family

Opeloge comes from a weightlifting family. His sister,

Ele Opeloge Ele Opeloge (born July 11, 1985) is a Samoan Olympic weightlifting, weightlifter. She was the first Samoan to win an Olympic medal, winning silver in the women's +75 kg category at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Family Opeloge comes from a ...

is also a gold medalist at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, winning hers on the same day.Opeloge make it double Samoan family celebration
Retrieved 11 October 2010.

Career

Opeloge took up weightlifting in 1999. At the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

he won a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

in the 85 kg snatch event.News: 105kg Facts & figures
CWG official website Retrieved 11 October 2010, At the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

, in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

he won gold in the 105 kg to give Samoa its third gold medal of the Games. In the process, he also became the first Samoan to win medals in any sport at two

. Opeloge was suspended in 2007 for two years due to a doping. The use of banned substances in Weightlifting is prohibited and is considered cheating.

References

Living people Samoan male weightlifters Weightlifters at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Samoa Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Samoa Commonwealth Games medallists in weightlifting 1980 births Doping cases in weightlifting Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games {{Samoa-bio-stub