Samoa at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Samoa sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country was represented by a total of six athletes.[1] The country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony was weightlifter Ele Opeloge.[2] Samoa won its first Olympic medal due to medals reallocation after the IOC's retesting of doping samples in 2016.

Samoa at the
2008 Summer Olympics
IOC codeSAM
NOCSamoa Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee Inc.
Websitewww.oceaniasport.com/samoa
in Beijing
Competitors6 in 5 sports
Flag bearers Ele Opeloge (opening)
Aunese Curreen (closing)
Medals
Ranked 70th
Gold
0
Silver
1
Bronze
0
Total
1
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)

Medalists

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Medal Name Sport Event Date
  Silver Ele Opeloge Weightlifting Women's 75 kg August 16

Archery

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Samoa sent an archer to the Olympics for the first time. Joseph Muaausa earned the nation's first Olympic archery qualifying spot, in the men's competition, by placing second in the 2008 Oceanian championship.[3]

Athlete Event Ranking round Round of 64 Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final / BM
Score Seed Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Rank
Joseph Muaausa Men's individual 563 64   Serrano (MEX) (1)
L 88–116
Did not advance

Athletics

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Aunese Curreen set a national record in the men's 800 metres, with a time of 1:47.45.[4]

Men
Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Aunese Curreen 800 m 1:47.45 NR 6 Did not advance
Women
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Distance Position Distance Position
Serafina Akeli Javelin throw 49.26 49 Did not advance
Key
  • Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
  • Q = Qualified for the next round
  • q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
  • NR = National record
  • N/A = Round not applicable for the event
  • Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Boxing

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Samoa qualified one boxer for the Olympic boxing tournament. Satupaitea Farani Tavui earned Oceania's qualifying spot in the light heavyweight class by winning the Oceanian continental qualifying tournament.[5] Tavui lost his first match against Croatia's Marijo Šivolija, being eliminated by knockout. He had to be taken to hospital.[6]

Athlete Event Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Satupaitea Farani Tavui Light heavyweight   Šivolija (CRO)
L RSC
Did not advance

Canoeing

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Sprint

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Athlete Event Heats Semifinals Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Rudolph Berking-Williams Men's K-1 500 m 1:47.839 8 QS DNS Did not advance
Men's K-1 1000 m 4:00.784 7 QS 4:04.658 9 Did not advance

Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final

Weightlifting

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Athlete Event Snatch Clean & Jerk Total Rank
Result Rank Result Rank
Ele Opeloge[7] Women's 75 kg 119 2 150 3 269  

References

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  1. ^ "Pacific leaders to attend Beijing Olympics", ABC Radio Australia, August 4, 2008
  2. ^ "Tears instead of dreams for Samoan", Reuters, August 16, 2008
  3. ^ FITA Olympic Qualification - Men
  4. ^ "Lessons learned by Pacific athletes from world's best" Archived 2008-09-18 at the Wayback Machine, ABC Radio Australia, August 21, 2008
  5. ^ "aiba.org at Directnic". www.aiba.org.
  6. ^ "Samoa's Tavui suffers severe knockout." Reuters. 9 August 2008. Accessed 9 August 2008.
  7. ^ "Hale to Olympics", Solomon Star, July 14, 2008