Gold medalists Fiji celebrate during the men’s rugby sevens medal ceremony during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Deodoro Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 11, 2016. The party is not even confined to Fiji.
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Viliame Mata rubbed salt into the wounds with a seventh final try to the delight of the partisan crowd that included International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and Princess Anne.
Deacon says it’s a dream four years in the making for the tiny island, “to win gold first time there, it’s massive for Fiji, it’s massive for Fiji rugby and it’s massive for rugby”. “All the (IOC) people I’ve spoken to have been nothing but encouraging”.
“You know we had Winston, the second-biggest hurricane that swept through Fiji in February”, he said.
“They’re all celebrating, they’ve been celebrating for the last three days”, said Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama of the scenes back home.
“The win was truly a historic moment for Fiji”, said Shailendra Singh, a former sports journalist and now head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.
“This is the biggest day in Fiji’s history”.
In a sevens masterclass, the Fijians avoided contact and the long-pass game, putting faith in coach Ben Ryan’s “no reward without risk” gameplan of offloading to keep possession.
“The island won’t be having parties in sporadic parts of country, it will be across the entire nation, 355 islands, and it will continue for some time”, he predicted.
It took 60 years, but Fiji finally earned an Olympic medal within hours of their embarrassing 10-0 drubbing at the hands of Germany in the men’s football tournament.
“Anybody’s that been here in a market that is not a traditional (rugby) market and look how the Brazil women’s team qualified for the World Series and then you see the Brazilian men living on first and last tries when they played Fiji”, he said. A spokesman said it was too soon to say what form those celebrations would take.
“Never before has the Fijian spirit soared so high as it does today”.
Tietjens is by far the most successful coach in worldwide sevens history and is well aware of the unpredictability of a sport in which any top tier team can beat another on a given day. Some villages do not have electricity, creating a challenge for some fans to watch the game.
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A Chinese swimmer has tested positive for banned substances at the Rio Olympics, becoming the first competitor in the sport to fail a test at the games. Matai, who works for the Asian Development Bank, said Serua has no television reception.
