{"id":25715,"date":"2024-07-17T14:28:49","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T01:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/talamua.com\/?p=25715"},"modified":"2024-07-17T14:28:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T01:28:49","slug":"don-opeloge-named-team-samoa-flag-bearer-in-paris-2024-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talamua.com\/?p=25715","title":{"rendered":"Don Opeloge named Team Samoa Flag Bearer in Paris 2024 Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staff Reporters\/<\/p>\n

Apia, Samoa \u2013 17 March 2024<\/strong> \u2013 One of Samoa\u2019s medal prospects in the Paris 2024 Olympics, weightlifter Laauli Don Opeloge has been named the Team Samoa flag bearer.<\/p>\n

Opeloge was announced during yesterday’s farewell for the team where the Deputy Prime Minister, Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio offered his blessings and best wishes for the team on behalf of the country\u2019s tapuaiga<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The 27 year old is of the renowned Opeloge weightlifting family whose aunt, Ele Opeloge is the first and so far the only Samoan athlete with an Olympic medal who won Silver in weightlifting in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.<\/p>\n

Despite the disappointment of missing out the 2020 Olympics due to the Covid pandemic lockdown, Don Opeloge and female weightlifter Iuniarra Sipaia have sacrificed a lot and persisted on high level training so to finally represent Samoa at the highest level.<\/p>\n

Team Samoa Paris 2024 departs for France this Sunday and will comprise 52 people in total; 24 athletes to compete in 9 sports, 18 officials, 5 Team Management, 3 Government dignitaries and 2 Special Guests.<\/p>\n

Sports and athletes<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Athletics<\/strong>
    \nAlexander Melei ROSE<\/li>\n
  2. Boxing
    \nAto Plodzicki FAOAGALI<\/li>\n
  3. Judo<\/strong>
    \nWill Tai TIN<\/li>\n
  4. Kayak<\/strong>
    \nTuva\u2019a Mako Hugo CLIFTON
    \nSamalaulu Fuatino Te Aho CLIFTON<\/li>\n
  5. Sailing <\/strong>
    \nEroni LEILUA
    \nVaimo\u2019oi\u2019a Astrid RIPLEY<\/li>\n
  6. Swimming<\/strong>
    \nJohann STRICKLAND
    \nKaiya BROWN<\/li>\n
  7. Weightlifting <\/strong>
    \nDon OPELOGE
    \nIuniarra SIPAIA<\/li>\n
  8. Wrestling <\/strong>
    \nGaku TAKASAWA<\/li>\n
  9. Rugby Sevens Men<\/strong>
    \n14 Players<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Staff Reporters\/ Apia, Samoa \u2013 17 March 2024 \u2013 One of Samoa\u2019s medal prospects in the Paris 2024 Olympics, weightlifter Laauli Don Opeloge has been named the Team Samoa flag bearer. Opeloge was announced during yesterday’s farewell for the team where the Deputy Prime Minister, Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio offered his blessings and best wishes for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[177,6],"tags":[1348,59,4041],"class_list":["post-25715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-sports","tag-don-opeloge","tag-featured","tag-team-samoa-paris-2024-olympics"],"yoast_head":"\nDon Opeloge named Team Samoa Flag Bearer in Paris 2024 Olympics - Talamua Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/talamua.com\/?p=25715\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don Opeloge named Team Samoa Flag Bearer in Paris 2024 Olympics - Talamua Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Staff Reporters\/ Apia, Samoa \u2013 17 March 2024 \u2013 One of Samoa\u2019s medal prospects in the Paris 2024 Olympics, weightlifter Laauli Don Opeloge has been named the Team Samoa flag bearer. 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