Almost 800 athletes from Oceania are in Tokyo for the XXXII Olympiad. These include 100 athletes from 15 Pacific island countries and the balance from Australia and New Zealand. While we amplify our Pacific islands teams, please follow the Australian Olympic Team and the New Zealand Team for updates too.

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@2.00pm JST

Women’s Sevens Rugby

Fiji’s dream of a gold medal finish in the Women’s Sevens Rugby at the Tokyo 2020 Games came to an end after a strong fight against New Zealand in the semi-final match at Tokyo Stadium. The three tries – two to Vasiti Solitiviti and one by Reapi Unuinasau – was not enough to match New Zealand’s onslaught of four tries and a conversion to give them a 22-17 win over Fiji. Fiji entered the semi-final match having an outstanding tournament, highlighted by their upset of Australia, the defending gold medallists. The Fijianas will face Great Britain for the bronze medal and third and fourth placing. Whatever the result, the Fijianas will move up the women sevens rugby ranking table from 8th place at the Rio 2016 Games to either 3rd or 4th place tonight. New Zealand advance to play France in the gold medal match at 6.00pm Tokyo Time. In the second semi-final France beat Great Britain 26-19 to book a final spot against New Zealand.

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‍Athletics

Pacific and Fiji’s 100m sprint king, Banuve Tabakaucoro has progressed to the next round of the sprint race after a strong run of 10.59s equal with UAE’s Mohamed Alhammadi in heat 2 of the preliminary round. He recorded a season best time from today’s preliminary result. He is the first athlete from Oceania at the Tokyo Olympics to progress into the next round of competition. Tabakaucoro will run in heat four of the men’s 100m race at 8.09pm Tokyo Time. The top three from the preliminary heats qualify to advance to round 1. In the same event, Tonga’s Ronald Fotofili was placed 8th recording his season best time of 11.19s. 

Alex Beddoes of Cook Islands finished 7th in Heat 1 of the Men’s 800m with a new season best and personal best time of 1.47.26s. In the same event at the Rio 2016 Olympics, Beddoes finished the race in a time of 1.52.76. His new time here in Tokyo is a new national record for Cook Islands.  Beddoes, who is based out of Melbourne, Australia, is a dual gold medallist at the Pacific Games in the 800m and 1500m. He represented Cook Island at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the 2016 Rio Olympics where he was the flag bearer during the closing ceremony.

Tuvalu sprinter, Karalo Maibuca set a new national record of 11.42s in the men’s 100m preliminary at the Olympic Stadium today. His previous best time was 11.98 at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in Australia. Three other athletes from Oceania competed in the same event - Nauru’s John Harris came fifth with a season best of 11.01s, Federated States of Micronesia’s Scott Fiti, was placed 6th with a season best time of 11.25s and Adrian Ililau of Palau, 8th with a personal best time of 11.42s.

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@8.30pm JST

Athletics

Fiji and Pacific Games sprint king, Banuve Tabakaucoro was not able to book a place in the semi-finals of the men’s 100m dash Saturday night after he clocked 10.70s and placed 8th in heat 4 of round one at the Olympic Stadium. Only the first three from the seven heats will qualify for the semi-final. Tabakaucoro currently holds the Pacific Games record in 100m sprint, with a time of 10.31s. He was the only athlete from Oceania to progress to the main round before the semi-finals.

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Women Sevens rugby‍

The Fijiana Women Sevens Rugby team fell short of a gold medal finish after it was shut down by New Zealand in the semi-final match, 22-17.  Fiji had to contend with a bronze medal play off  - beating Great Britain 21-12 to also clinch the third best ranking women sevens rugby team. New Zealand went on to win its first gold in rugby sevens beating France 26-12 in the final.

To the surprise of sevens rugby fans watching the bronze medal play-off between Fiji and Great Britain at the Olympic Stadium, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach turned up to watch the final two matches and support women’s rugby. After the final, he called two members of the Fijiana team to come up and sit with him – a rare opportunity for athletes to share with the head of IOC. Bach’s visit to the Women’s Sevens Rugby underscores the theme of gender equality and his support for Oceania athletes that are here in Tokyo.

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