Ele Opeloge

Ele Opeloge (born July 11, 1985) Her brother, Niusila is also a Commonwealth gold medalist, winning it the same day as her. Four other relatives have also competed at Commonwealth level. Her twin sister is Larissa Tara. She is the mother of weightlifter Avatu Opeloge.

Career

2007 At the 2007 World Championships she ranked 11th, with a combined lift of 250 kg.

2008 She represented Samoa at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, competing in the over 75kg category. She was also her country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony. In August 2016, the IWF reported in the IOC reanalysis of the 2008 Beijing Olympics that the silver and bronze medalists - Olha Korobka of Ukraine, and Mariya Grabovetskaya - had failed retests of their doping samples. The IWF later reallocated medals accordingly, elevating Opeloge to become the silver medalist and also the first-ever Olympic medalist from Samoa.

Opeloge is a celebrity in Samoa, "where children approach her in the supermarket for autographs". It was also Samoa's second gold medal in the history of the Games. Her build up to the Olympics were disrupted by chicken pox and typhoid. as well as being one of the baton carriers as the Queen's baton made its way through Samoa. At the Games she won the silver medal in the +75 kg category.