Ele Opeloge

Ele Opeloge

Personal information
Born	(1985-07-11) July 11, 1985 (age 31)
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	124 kg (273 lb)
Sport
Country	Samoa
Sport	Weightlifting
Event(s)	Women's +75 kg
Medal record Women's Weightlifting Representing  Samoa Olympic Games 2008 Beijing +75 kg Oceania Weightlifting Championships 2007 Apia +75 kg 2008 Auckland +75 kg 2006 Apia +75 kg Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi +75 kg 2014 Glasgow +75 kg Pacific Games 2007 Apia +75 kg 2011 Nouméa +75 kg 2015 Port Moresby +75 kg

Ele Opeloge (born July 11, 1985) is a Samoan weightlifter competing in the women's +75 kg category. She won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Opeloge comes from a weightlifting family. Her brother, Niusila is also a Commonwealth gold medalist, winning it the same day as her. Four other relatives have also competed at Commonwealth level.

At the 2007 World Championships she ranked 11th, with a total of 250 kg.

She represented Samoa at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, competing in the over 75kg category. She was also her country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony.

Opeloge finished fourth in her event, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal. She lifted 269 kg, matching her personal best, while Mariya Grabovetskaya of Kazakhstan lifted 270 kg to finish third. In August 2016, the IWF reported in the IOC reanalysis of the 2008 Beijing Olympics that the silver and bronze medalists - Olha Korobka of Ukraine, and Mariya Grabovetskaya - failed retests of their doping samples. The IWF later reallocated medals accordingly, elevating Opeloge to become the silver medalist and also the first-ever Olympic medalist from Samoa.

Opeloge is a celebrity in Samoa, "where children approach her in the supermarket for autographs".

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Wikipedia