The Pacific Island nation erupted with joy Friday after its rugby sevens team crushed Britain 43-7 in final in Rio de Janeiro.
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And James Davies was left nearly lost for words to describe the “unbeatable” Fijians as they stormed to their country’s first-ever Olympic gold on Thursday.
He said representing Great Britain in Rio 2016 was a childhood dream come true.
He watched the match in his office in Suva, providing updates to the village by phone. Fiji led 12-0 after four minutes. “So it’s a historic day for so many things and so many people and the support as well over in Fiji and all over the world is just overwhelming”.
The Fijian men, the long-time entertainers and back-to-back world sevens series champions, were one of the best feel-good stories of the games, bringing their tiny country its first Olympic medal and prompting a national holiday.
The game of rugby has been marketed well in this year’s Olympics. Matai, who works for the Asian Development Bank, said Serua has no television reception.
Great Britain were unbeaten going into the final and saw off South Africa by two points to reach the final and guarantee a medal, but Amor added: “The final was one match too far for us, but this team has achieved so much in a short space of time”.
There were a couple of single-digit winning margins, but nobody really got close to the Fijians.
“About a year ago, I knew I wanted to leave, and wanted to go back into 15s, but the more this sevens train has carried on and the more I’ve enjoyed it, it’s nearly jumping off at the wrong time now”, Ryan said.
“They just attacked everything, they went for everything and it all paid off”, said Britain’s James Rodwell.
University vice chancellor Rajesh Chandra said the victory also showed that a small Pacific island nation “can overcome our limitations of size, low income, and many other vulnerabilities and handicaps and take on the big boys internationally”.
Men and women’s sevens tournaments, ran over six days, marked the first time since 1924 that rugby has been played at the Olympics.
“I would like to congratulate Fiji on winning the inaugural men’s rugby sevens gold medal and creating Olympic history in winning Fiji’s first-ever medal”.
In a message to the nation from Rio de Janiero, where he watched the Olympic final, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said “every Fijian is rejoicing” around the world.
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World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper said fan engagement as well as spectator numbers and broadcast figures would the main criteria judged by the International Olympic Committee, at an Olympics where some venues have been marred by low turnout.
