26 Aug 2016

Samoa's medal a victory for hard work

12:14 pm on 26 August 2016

The impending elevation of Samoa's Ele Opeloge to Olympic silver medallist is a victory for years of hard work by Pacific weightlifters, according to her coach.

Opeloge is poised to add an Olympic silver medal to her list of achievements after two of her competitors failed doping tests from the 2008 Beijing Games.

Opeloge initially finished in fourth place in the women's over 75kg division, one kilogram shy of the bronze medal winner.

But a re-analysis of samples from eight years ago have found the silver medallist, Olha Korobka from Ukraine, and bronze medallist, Mariya Grabovetskaya from Kazakhstan, tested positive for banned substances.

Ele Opeloge initially finished in fourth place in the women's over 75kg division at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Ele Opeloge initially finished in fourth place in the women's over 75kg division at the 2008 Olympic Games. Photo: AFP

The President of the Samoa Weightlifting Federation, Jerry Wallwork, said it's good to see cheating athletes getting caught.

"Drugs is not allowed, it's banned. For many years we've been saying, "what are we doing wrong? Why can't we compete with the best? But now it's finally coming around and I'm very happy and I think it's a direction for us here in the Pacific that now we have a hope and not only Ele but other countries in the Pacific - now it's realistic, we can win medals at the Olympic Games," he said.

"It's fantastic news but then again, like I said, we've got to wait for the official confirmation but according to the tests that have been positive and the names that are there, the two girls, the silver and bronze medallists, are on the positive list. For us it's fantastic news and we're just looking forward to the time when they officially confirm.

"I'm sure Samoa will put on a big welcoming for Ele, bring her back and make sure the presentation is done what she deserves," he said.

Ele Opeloge won gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Ele Opeloge won gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Photo: AFP

Mr Wallwork coached Ele Opeloge at the Beijing and London Olympics and said she was overwhelmed when she received the news.

"Oh she couldn't believe it. She really couldn't believe it. She kept thanking god for all this coming true and I said, "yes we worked hard, we were there, we had the medal. This is just - that's it. You deserved it, you worked hard," and I have to say that we train in the Pacific and we train hard and it's really not fair that we keep having to go up against big countries that are still taking these banned substances. It's not fair - we've been doing this for years and I think it's time that this needs to stop," he said.

A total of 15 weightlifters were provisionally suspended by the International Olympic Committee.

They have the option of taking their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a process which Jerry Wallwork said could take up to a month.