Charisma Amoe-Tarrant, Australia’s strongest woman, says her super-heavyweight weightlifting medal can be celebrated by both her country of choice and of her birth, Nauru, after winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games.
The Tokyo Olympian, who won silver for the small Pacific Island nation at the Gold Coast four years ago, finished third in a dramatic session at Birmingham’s NEC, behind England’s flag-bearer Emily Campbell, who hoisted a Games record 286kg to win.
Charisma Amoe Tarrant performs a clean and jerk during the women’s 87+kg final on day six of the Birmingham Commonwealth GamesCredit:Getty Images
An emotional Amoe-Tarrant looked skyward after the lift that catapulted her from the also-rans and onto the podium, signaling towards the heavens in memory of her late mother, whose death when she was 12 prompted her family’s relocation to Australia, and a close uncle who recently died.
“I couldn’t help looking up to both up there. All the lifts were for them,” she said afterwards.
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Amoe-Tarrant, 25, began weightlifting at the age of 11, under the tutelage of her uncle, who was a coach at a weightlifting gym. She was a field athlete, training in shot put and discus before her uncle de ella asked her to train in the weightlifting gym, where she fell in love with the sport.
She spent her early childhood in Nauru, where her mum struggled with kidney problems. Without a transplant, her mother de ella died in 2009, and Amoe-Tarrant’s grandparents, Rick and Thelma, promised to bring the family to Australia. She became a citizen in 2016.
“At the end of the day, I’m Australian and I’m also Nauran, so I’m representing both countries. I’m proud to be Australian and I’m also proud to be Nauran – and no one can take that away from me.
The154kg powerhouse produced a magnificent performance in the over-87kg category despite admitting to having felt “a lot of pressure” following recent knee and elbow injuries that were still troubling her.
Over the past few years of Emily Campbell’s life, as it has transformed beyond recognition, she has spent her time methodically expanding her list of triumphs. She is already the only British woman to win an Olympic weightlifting medal, snatching an unforgettable silver in Tokyo last year.
Campbell is a world championships bronze medalist and two-time European champion. As the Commonwealth Games began, she entered Alexander Stadium as England’s flag bearer, a face of the Games.
And now she is one of her champions. In a show of spectacular dominance, she became the Commonwealth Games gold medalist for the first time in the women’s 87+kg division. Campbell produced a faultless performance under immense pressure, moving through her six lifts with skill and power, producing personal bests across the board.
“Some would say it was a perfect Games,” she said. “To walk out the crowd in the opening ceremony was immense for a start. To lead out the home nation in a home Games is a very, very special privilege. The reason why we come here was to perform on the stage. To get that perfect performance on the stage? Yeah, you could call that a perfect Games.”
As Campbell strode into the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham with her arms outstretched, her hair braided in red and white buns, the tightly packed crowd roared her name. Her biggest competition was the defending champion Feagaiga Stowers, who at 17 years old in 2018 had outperformed Campbell to win gold for Samoa in the previous Games on the Gold Coast of Australia.
After the rest of the field competed for the minor positions in the snatch competition, the duel began. Campbell tore off her headphones, which had been blaring out bashment and soca, then she walked into the arena for her opening snatch lift. After initially electing her de ella first lift de ella as 115kg, she increased her opening weight to 117kg. She was ready.
Emily Campbell in the women’s 87+kg weightlifting final Photograph: Andrew Cornaga/EPA
She lifted her first attempt cleanly, which Stowers swiftly matched. At 121kg, Campbell punctuated her successful attempt by sticking her tongue out to the crowd with the weight above her head. Stowers, however, initially faltered at 121kg before lifting it in her final attempt. Campbell marched on, shattering her personal best of her with a lift of 124kg, pumping both of her fists and yelling.
They returned later for the clean and jerk, with Stowers first laboring through a difficult opening lift of 147kg and then failing both of her subsequent attempts at 154kg. While Stowers struggled, Campbell soared. She cleared 152kg with ease, which was enough for her victory after Stowers’s failed lifts.
But she kept on going. She easily completed 157kg. Then she signaled for 162kg, one kilo above her silver‑medal lift in Tokyo, her personal best of her. She began her routine: after pressing down her palms to calm herself and rolling her shoulders backwards, she gripped the bar, drove her legs and extended her arms, driving home a personal best for an overall Commonwealth Games record of 286kg.
Over these past few years, as her success has endured, life has changed immensely for Campbell. She had famously arrived at the Olympics still splitting her time between weightlifting and self-funding her career as a receptionist. Now she is a full-time athlete with lottery funding, finally able to devote everything to her craft de ella. The gains are plain to see and they have enabled her to envision even loftier successes.
“It means that I can move closer to the gym now, I’ve got a real plan in place, a real team around me now,” she said. “Pushing forward towards Paris because we’ve got eyes on another medal in Paris. We want to do everything we can to make sure we’re there in the best shape possible. It’s not gonna be an easy ride.”
Before the competition, Precious McKenzie, the legendary former weightlifter, was ushered on to the stage where he was greeted by the audience. Campbell said he had also visited her before the competition, giving her some clear words of advice. “His words from him to me before I came out today: ‘Everyone’s expecting to win. You go out and win.’” And she did.
After missing the entire England series through injury, Waratahs forward Jed Holloway looks set to earn his Wallabies debut against Argentina.
Wide World of Sports can reveal Holloway will be named to start at blindside flanker for Australia in Sunday morning’s (AEST) opening Rugby Championship clash, in Mendoza.
The 29-year-old was tipped to win his maiden gold jumper against England in July, but an untimely injury saw him miss all three games of Australia’s series loss to Eddie Jones’ side.
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Having overcome a minor calf injury, Holloway will finally get the opportunity to represent his country.
Although capable of playing lock, blindside flanker or No.8, Holloway has spent the 2021 Super Rugby Pacific season in the second row for New South Wales.
Jed Holloway of the Waratahs fends off Richie Mo’unga of the Crusaders. (Getty)
His selection in the No.6 jersey will give the Wallabies almost a third lock, and with it extra height and options in the lineout.
Holloway’s well-known physical style will be useful to combat Los Pumas’ notorious abrasiveness.
Holloway is expected to pack down in the back row alongside captain Michael Hooper, and No.8 Rob Valetini.
Hailing from northern NSW, Holloway made his Waratahs debut in 2013 under then coach, Michael Cheika – the man now in charge of this weekend’s opponent.
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Commonwealth Games in pictures: Fighter left in tears after coach calls off fight
Another rival club has been linked to Brodie Grundy, while St Kilda’s interest in his teammate hasn’t cooled.
Plus Fremantle is keeping tabs on a fringe Crow.
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Port Adelaide has emerged as a suitor for Brodie Grundy should the star ruck wish to be traded at season’s end, reports 7NewsMelbourne.
Multiple reports have indicated Grundy’s management are preparing to be asked by Collingwood about the possibility of trading the dual All-Australian, even though he’s contracted to the club until the end of 2027 on a deal worth around $1 million per season.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae last week declared on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 he wanted Grundy at the club next season, but remained tight-lipped on whether he was up for trade.
The Giants reportedly have interest in Grundy – speculation that grew last month when Grundy’s manager was seen meeting with Giants football boss Jason McCartney, where the dual All-Australian’s future was reportedly discussed.
But 7NewsMelbourne reported the Power was also keeping tabs on Grundy’s situation.
McRae evasive on Grundy & De Goey trades | 01:54
“Port Adelaide is interested in where Grundy is going to end up and his trade status at the end of the year,” reporter Tom Browne told 7NewsMelbourne. “But at this stage the Power don’t see Grundy leaving Victoria
“If Grundy approves, Collingwood is expected to gauge his trade interest post-season.”
Power premiership player Kane Cornes last month flagged his old club as an appropriate destination for Grundy should he be prepared to move home, telling SEN Breakfast the Power could “absolutely use” Grundy and adding: “He’d fit in at Port Adelaide and take over from Scott Lycett.”
DOCKERS ‘IDENTIFY’ FRINGE CROW TO POSSIBLY FILL CHASM
Crows forward Elliott Himmelberg has been identified by Fremantle as a possible trade acquisition, reports SEN SA.
The Dockers are bracing to lose goalkicker Rory Lobb, who’s expected to request a trade at season’s end despite still being contracted to Freo.
Himmelberg, 24, kicked bags of four goals in Adelaide’s wins over the Power and Tigers earlier this season, but has struggled for senior game time this year with Riley Thilthorpe, Taylor Walker and Darcy Fogarty the preferred key-position combination.
Subsequently, Fremantle is reportedly keeping tabs on Himmelberg, who’s kicked 38 goals from just 37 games since being taken with Pick 51 in the 2016 draft.
Busy off-season looms for the Dockers | 00:56
“Fremantle are putting together their list of how they overcome the issues of what they’ve got in attack, or don’t have in attack,” veteran journalist Michelangelo Rucci told SEN SA’s The Run Home.
“And the player that they’re identifying – I stress identifying, so they’re doing their due diligence – is Elliott Himmelberg at Adelaide. He’s out of contract, they think he’s the fit for them.
“We know he’s a tall player who can play forward and ruck – they want him as a forward. They desperately need to shore up their attack.
“He is growing with interest at Fremantle.”
SAINTS INSIST DE GOEY INTERESTED HASN’T COOLED
St Kilda coach Brett Ratten insists his club’s interest in Jordan De Goey hasn’t waned, even though the board has yet to approve a pursuit of the Collingwood free agent.
It was revealed earlier this week the Saints’ board had asked the football department for more information about De Goey, who’s out of contract at season’s end and eligible for free agency.
The Age reported the board wanted clarity around how De Goey would fit within the club’s playing list, as well as its leadership and values.
St Kilda Saints press conference | 06:25
But Ratten denied that it was a sign that the club had cooled on its pursuit of De Goey, saying it was perfectly normal for the board to ask questions about the star Magpie before potentially recruiting him.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re employing new staff members or players, we have to run things past the board and they have the right to challenge and ask questions and see where we’re at with it,” Ratten said.
“He’s very talented but we’re still working through that.”
Manly’s rainbow-themed jersey was meant to promote inclusion but it left the Sea Eagles divided and the players forced to pick up the pieces.
Key points:
The Manly squad met after seven players chose not to wear the inclusion jersey
Five of the seven players will return to the first-grade squad this round
Jake Trbojevic says he is glad to have had the chance to speak to the players
Their stance was a shock for some players who took the field against the Roosters, such as Jake Trbojevic.
“My number one thing is footy so at first it was hard to comprehend, but we’ve got a really clear understanding of it and I’m really comfortable with it,” Trbojevic said.
The loss has left the Sea Eagles in a precarious position as they now sit 10th on the ladder.
“It’s almost do or die for us at the moment,” Lachlan Croker said.
“Obviously it was disappointing to not be able to play with those guys that you play with every week, but the decision was made and who am I to say the decision was wrong?”
Sea Eagles veteran Kieran Foran was one of the players that modeled the jersey in promotional videos two weeks before the players were told they would be required to wear it against the Roosters.
Foran did not think twice about wearing the jersey.
“I was more than happy to put on the jersey but that’s my beliefs,” he said.
Five of the seven players who boycotted wearing the jersey will return to Brookvale Oval this Friday to take on the Parramatta Eels.
Jason Saab, Christian Tuipulotu, Haumole Olakau’atu, Tolutau Koula and Toafofoa Sipley have been named in the Sea Eagles’ 17-player squad, while Josh Aloiai is injured and Josh Schuster missed selection.
Josh Schuster, Christian Tuipulotu, Josh Aloiai and Jason Saab were four of the players who refused to wear Manly’s inclusion jersey.(AAP: Dan Himbrechts and James Gourley )
But it has taken some work to get to this point, with the entire playing group being put through several mediation sessions.
“I don’t want to disclose those internal discussions, that’s for us as a club, but I can say that they all went well,” Foran said.
Before the group came together, Trbojevic arranged to meet with Aloiai one on one.
“Me and Josh get on really well, (we) told each other what we thought made sense,” Trbojevic said.
The players now insist there are no rifts or resentment lingering inside the squad.
“It’s all solved, we’ve talked about it,” Reuben Garrick said.
“That’s what you’ve got to do as a team. It’s not about any one person’s opinion.
“We’ve had those conversations. It was about letting them know how we felt and telling them how they felt and respecting decisions.”
Manly wore the rainbow-themed jersey against the Roosters last Thursday night.(Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Croker agreed with Garrick and said the group had been galvanized by the drama.
“It’s something I would have never thought about, so it’s a learning curve for a lot of us,” he said.
“Obviously it was a tough week for everyone but there’s no point dwelling on it now, and nothing but good stuff has come out of it, so we are focused on the next five weeks.”
While the Sea Eagles want to focus on winning their remaining five matches in a late finals bid, they are set to confront the complex situation again amid an ongoing debate about religious freedom and diversity in sport.
The NRL is considering introducing a full pride round next year for all 16 clubs, but given how Manly’s jersey backfired for the club, players admit the initiative could be met with resistance.
“It probably would [be difficult] based on how it went this year,” Trbojevic said.
Croker added: “Their beliefs are that strong, you just have to take your hat off to them, but it was an interesting one and hopefully something that doesn’t unfold again.”
Men, women and children are again risking their lives trying to get to Australia and neighboring India in boats, and trying to enter other countries with the assistance of people smugglers.
Between January and the first week of July, more than 150,000 citizens left the country in search of work as the country entered a period of economic insecurity, according to data from the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau.
Athlete disappearances have plagued both recent Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.
At least 230 athletes and officials – the majority of them from Africa – lodged applications for protection visas following the last Games on the Gold Coast in 2018. The overwhelming majority of them were denied.
About a third of the Cameroon team went missing after the event, while Rwanda’s weightlifting coach fled the Games during a toilet break at Carrara Stadium.
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It was a major increase on Melbourne 2006, the last time Australia had hosted the Commonwealth Games, when 40 athletes overstayed their visas.
It is estimated that about 100 athletes and officials filed for asylum after the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Fernando told reporters ahead of the Games it was a “dream” for athletes to take part considering the circumstances at home.
“We have a responsibility to fulfill that dream. Just because we are facing economic crisis… does not mean that we just forget about it,” he said.
Britain is in the midst of a fierce domestic debate about immigration as the government facing a backlash over its attempts to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The Conservative Party leadership contest that will choose the replacement for outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson has sharpened the focus on the number of people crossing the English Channel from France. UK Border Force staff are bracing for the arrival of thousands more people in small boats in the coming months.
The Ministry of Defense said 696 people made the journey in 14 small boats on Monday alone. There were 460 arrivals on Saturday and 247 on Friday, and more than 1000 people crossed last week.
In July, 3683 people crossed from France. The total for this year is believed to be more than 17,000.
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Thai driver Alex Albon confirmed he has agreed to continue with Williams in 2023 amid the fallout over fellow F1 hopeful Oscar Piastri’s denial he will be racing for Alpine.
“I understand that, with my agreement, Williams Racing have put out a press release this afternoon that I am driving for them next year,” Albon said in a Twitter post, ironically referencing Piastri.
“This is right and I have signed a contract with Williams for 2023. I will be driving for Williams next year. Let’s go @williamsracing.”
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On Wednesday, Australian young gun Piastri refuted an announcement made earlier in the day by the French team Alpine that he had signed for them next season.
“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year,” Piastri tweeted.
“This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”
Williams are one of the teams which, according to unconfirmed reports, are in talks to sign Piastri, Formula 2 champion in 2021 and currently a reserve driver at Alpine.
Williams, however, made no mention on Wednesday of their other driver, Canadian Nicholas Latifi, whose contract expires at the end of this year.
The confusion follows last week’s announcement by four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel that he would retire at the end of 2022.
His Aston Martin team announced a few days later they had concluded an agreement with Alpine driver Fernando Alonso, a double world champion, to replace Vettel from next year.
This precipitated the decision of the French team to announce Piastri as his replacement when the Australian seems to have entered into negotiations to sign for another team.
Rumors are raging Piastri is eyeing a seat at McLaren, with plenty of doubt about Daniel Ricciardo’s place at the team after two underwhelming seasons.
Albon, 26, whose mother is Thai and father British, debuted in Formula 1 in 2019 with Red Bull and joined Williams for this season.
During his time at Red Bull he had two third places before being replaced in 2021 within the Austrian team by Sergio Perez.
He currently sits 19th place in the championship with three points.
Geelong told me my time was up about three games before the end of 2015. I had asked whether I could go another year, play VFL and get to 200 games, but I was, as every former player will understand, starting to get a feeling the club had made the decision to finish me up.
David Mundy announced his retirement this week.Credit:Getty Images
Looking back I don’t begrudge them at all. I was over 30 and couldn’t kick further than 35 meters. I would have done the same if I was in their shoes but at the moment it was hard. Eventually, after some sleepless nights where I wrestled with the sense I had unfinished business, I decided to confront the reality. I went into football manager Steve Hocking’s office and said, “let’s hug it out, I understand”.
My former teammate Cam Mooney was a great mentor through that time. We’d speak weekly and he said “even if you don’t like the decisions, the only thing that will reflect on you is the way you deal with the news”. I wasn’t perfect, but I tried, and I realized now everyone else was also doing their best to handle an uncomfortable period too.
I decided to focus on the 98 per cent that was positive about my time at the club: the friendships, the fun, the opportunities, the networks and the financial reward rather than the part that made me feel horrible at the end.
The fortunate part for me when Geelong’s door shut is that I was as prepared as I could be because I had managed to take advantage of enough of the opportunities the club and the game provided to set up the life I wanted to live post playing.
Neville Jetta retired at the end of 2021 and joined Collingwood as an assistant coach.Credit:eddie jim
Being drafted at 21 helped because I understood the real world’s reality better than many who had gone straight from school to the club. The whole time I was playing I studied or did work experience. My work experience was at Cotton On, Werribee, and Melbourne Zoo. For most of the back end of my career I worked in the Geelong community department on my days off and then during my last year as a player, spent my day off working with the AFL. They employed me full time four weeks after my last game at Geelong.
I was probably at the peak of my career when I worked at Cotton On alongside Max Rooke, but I was there to do the job they wanted me to do. It was humbling, and important.
My manager, Tom Petroro, was critical to that because he was always honest about where I was at and set up ways for me to stay connected to the real world and learn skills that were essential to live life as I matured. He was never afraid to question me and for that, I’m forever grateful.
I think most of our clubs and the AFL Players Association do more than enough to educate players on the importance of using their time productively, but from what I have seen not enough players take the opportunity time in the game gives them to establish the path their life takes until it is potentially too late.
Most playing careers don’t last long. It’s important to network, talk and engage with sponsors, board members, influential people at the club and people who work at the club and not just people in the football department because it will help when the tap comes. It might set you up or, at least, give you a place to start your next chapter.
The key is to find passions outside football and see whether you can leverage that into a career. Mine was always to help better my people and my connections to people in the First Nations community locally was so vital in learning about life and keeping a perspective on what working in that space was like.
Looking back, the best years of my career were 2008, 2013 and 2014 when I was doing work outside the club. Don’t stress about the time not spent on football because the break will ensure you are switched on when you arrive at the club to work on football.
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Some players can expect too much to be done for us while we are playing. I sometimes cringe when I hear former players complaining about the lack of support they received during and after their careers.
Our player development managers were brutal if I did not conduct myself well in doing basic things such as returning a call or replying courteously to an email.
But you need to realize that the responsibility is on you, while you are playing.
Otherwise, unhappily wearing tracky dacks on the couch could become your refuge after it’s all finished.
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. One of the greatest, Joel Selwood, played game No.350 on the weekend. My definition of greatness is making players around you better. He not only improved other players, but they walked taller when playing with him (I needed any help I could get in this area). I’ve never seen a player come up big in the biggest moment more often than “Selsy” but it’s the man himself and the human he is, that makes me so proud to call this man a great teammate and a brother for life.
Mathew Stokes is a Larrakia man who played 200 games with Geelong and Essendon. I have played in Geelong’s 2007 and 2011 premiership teams.
Ariarne Titmus, Sam Short and the women’s 4x100m relay medley team picked up yet more gold for Australia as the Commonwealth Games swimming competition came to a close in Birmingham. A hugely successful campaign in the pool ended with the triple triumph on Thursday morning AEST to bring Australia’s golden tally to 25 by the final reckoning.
Titmus claimed victory in the women’s 400m freestyle – the 21-year-old’s seventh Commonwealth gold, in addition to two Olympic golds and two world titles – after edging out emerging 15-year-old Canadian star Summer McIntosh, with Australia’s Kiah Melverton claiming bronze in a thrilling race.
McIntosh had announced herself a star of the future at the world championships in Budapest and won the 200m and 400m individual medleys at this meet. A night after winning the 800m freestyle, Titmus – who defeated American champion Katie Ledecky in the event at the Tokyo Olympics – recorded at a time of 3:58.06 to beat McIntosh by just over one second. She also won the 200m freestyle.
Her latest success followed Short’s sensational swim to claim the 1500m freestyle gold medal and continue Australia’s rich tradition in the endurance race. The 18-year-old won a thrilling contest at 14:48.54, just over three seconds in front of Daniel Wiffen from Northern Ireland, with England’s Luke Turley third.
In the final events of the swimming competition, the women’s 4x100m relay medley team beat Canada, with England claiming bronze, to give Emma McKeon her sixth gold medal of these Games, but there was disappointment for the men’s team, who were pipped by England as Kyle Chalmers touched for silver.
100m freestyle heroine Mollie O’Callaghan gave Canadian world champion Kylie Masse a scare in the 50m backstroke when beaten by just 0.16 seconds. Maase, a four-time Olympic medalist, rallied late to win in 27.31 seconds with Kaylee McKeown continuing her superb meet to claim the bronze.
In track and field, Brandon Starc narrowly failed to defend his Commonwealth high jump crown as he claimed silver behind New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr after both men cleared 2.25m. While in the men’s 100m final, sprinter Rohan Browning came in sixth.
Brandon Starc takes a moment with his baby after winning high jump silver. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
Resilience has been a feature throughout Peter Bol’s extraordinary life and the Australian athlete was not going to let an injured ankle derail his Commonwealth Games dreams. The 28-year-old, whose family fled Sudan’s civil war when he was four, has coped with the stress that comes with competing against the best in a grievous event for the past decade.
There have been moments of brilliance, with his fourth-placed finish in the Tokyo Olympics last year an illustration. More recently, a seventh in the world championships was deflating. On Tuesday, when he rolled an ankle ahead of his appearance in a heat of the 800m in Birmingham, Bol would have been forgiven for fearing the worst.
Instead he focused. I iced the ankle. Put your feet up. He iced the joint again. And again. It was a professional approach to a scare. I have planned to fight on, no matter the pain. But it was not until Wednesday morning that he was convinced he would produce his best from him. Walking 800m on a dodgy ankle is painful, let alone running it. But Bol pulled it off with brilliance when clocking a time of 1:47.01 to qualify the fastest for Sunday’s final at Alexander Stadium.
“I rolled my ankle yesterday and I was limping on the way back and today I’m perfectly fine, so it’s a massive thanks to the medical team at Athletics Australia,” he said. “I wasn’t playing basketball, I promise. I just rolled it on the curb at the track. That’s the first time ever. It was getting better by the night and then in the morning, I was like, ‘Bam. I’m ready to go’.”
The ease with which he claimed the heat is testament to this. Bol trailed Kenyan Cornelius Tuwai, who has a faster personal best than the Western Australian, for the first 550m before dispatching with him to cruise to the line.
“To be honest, I did feel at ease and I enjoyed that a lot,” he said. “It was awesome to come back from the world’s, because it was a disappointing end, so to come back here and be in amazing shape and just switch off like that at the end is amazing.”
After being eliminated in the quarter-finals in Tokyo by India, Australia have a chance of redemption in a semi-final of the women’s hockey to be held in Birmingham on Friday. The Hockeyroos maintained a perfect record in their pool when defeating Scotland 2-0, while India claimed what was effectively a sudden-death clash against Canada 3-2 to progress.
Also maintaining a perfect record to reach the medal rounds was the Twenty20 women’s cricket team, who have performed brilliantly in their first Commonwealth Games. Excellent innings from the unbeaten Beth Mooney, who scored 70 off 49 balls, and Tahlia McGrath, who was 78 not out off 51 balls, helped Australia to a total 160-2 against Pakistan.
The Australians will learn their semi-final rival after the clash between England and New Zealand on Thursday.
In other action on Wednesday, Zoe Cuthbert became the first Australian to win a medal in mountain biking when finishing second at Cannock Chase Forest, north of Birmingham. The 21-year-old finished 47 seconds behind England’s Evie Campbell but demonstrated she is a star of the future with both her skill on the bike and race composure and awareness.
Australia’s oldest competitor Cheryl Lindfield, 63, has been a hit in the athletes’ village she is staying in, with the women’s rugby sevens team in particular taking a shine to her. Lindfield and her partner Ella Serena Bonnell enjoyed a successful venture to Leamington Spa when claiming the silver medal in the para women’s pairs (B6-B8) lawn bowls.
The Australian combination were eventually outclassed by Scotland when beaten 17-5, making it the nation’s second loss in a final at the venue to the Scots in as many days. “We were the underdogs,” she said. “We’re very happy with that. We’ll wake up tomorrow with a silver… so how good is that?”
Charisma Amoa Tarrant performed well at the weightlifting when claiming a bronze medal in the women’s 87kg class behind England’s Emily Campbell, who set a new Commonwealth mark.
At the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Eileen Cikamatana won weightlifting gold for Fiji. Four years later in Birmingham she repeated the achievement, this time for Australia.
Cikamatana represented her adopted country with a bang in Birmingham, setting new Commonwealth Games records in the women’s 87kg on Wednesday morning (AEST) and becoming the first woman to win gold medals for two different nations.
The 22-year-old made light work of her competition with incredibly heavy lifts. That included a Games-record snatch of 110kg and a second clean-and-jerk lift of 137kg, which was also a Games record.
Her total at that point was an overall Games record in the event and enough to win her the gold medal. But she went on to top that performance with a third clean and jerk of 145kg to bring her combined total to 255kg.
“I don’t know how to describe it… I can’t fit it into words,” Cikamatana told AAP afterwards. “I think it’s floating somewhere. I will need to grab it then I will let you know.”
Cikamatana grew up in a small village in Fiji, the country of her birth. As a child she helped her father de ella carry feed for the pigs he was looking after, and would lift 50kg sacks of meal mix and gas cylinders off and onto his truck.
She started weightlifting on the suggestion of a school teacher, and realized she also had the mental strength to match her physical strength.
“In training, it’s your mind that takes over the body, and you really need to focus because you’re lifting weights,” she told the ABC last week. “You really need to get into that relationship with you and the bar. Because weights are dead weight, they don’t have feelings, but you have feelings.”
Cikamatana’s rise as a teenager was swift, and at 15 she moved to New Caledonia to train with other top Pacific athletes. At 18, she burst onto the international scene with gold for Fiji in the 90kg. But the following year, after a dispute with Fiji’s weightlifting governing body over where she should train, she switched allegiances to Australia.
Visa red tape meant she wasn’t able to represent her new country at the Tokyo Olympics, but the signs in Birmingham point to good things for Australia at Paris 2024.
“If I miss out on this one, we can always go to the next one, which is 2024, and that’s our main goal,” she told the ABC. “This has been the greatest opportunity I’ve ever had, and to me it’s a dream come true,” she said. “To be representing Australia in green and gold is just beyond my imagination.”
