No time to be

be a hero

OFISA Ofisa wasn’t aiming to be a hero.

“There’s an other time for that,” said his manager, Leao Toalepaialia, as he watched the

baby-faced

schoolboy wipe away the sweat. “He wanted to win the gold, that’s all. Next time he’ll do more, break the record, become a hero.”

Nevertheless, it was Ofisa’s tri

umphant performance during the

weightlifting championships of the South Pacific Games in Lae last month that gave Western Samoa three quick gold medals and initially placed it on top of the medals tally.

The 16-year-old Ofisa had come to the Games an underdog. He had been lifting for only two years and was entering his first international tournament, although he had won the Western Samoan championship in Apia last year. A decision at home for him to drop six kilos in body weight to make the easier 56 kilo category increased his chances, but sapped his strength. And so Ofisa was in Papua New Guinea with a very big heart and a much whittled frame.

He faced powerful lifters in his category; the much fancied Willy Tokana, of Papua New Guinea, and Appolos Saed, of the Solomon Islands.

Saed fouled himself out of the snatch and lost the bronze medal, although he won another bronze for lifting 90 kilos in the dean-and-jerk. Tokana lifted 72.5 kilos in the snatch. He was penalised heavily

by the judges in the dean-and-jerk,

fouling twice on 100 kilos in two questionable decisions. He succeeded on his third attempt after the three-member jury panel had spoken to the judges.

Later, Tokana competed in the 67.5 kilo category and lifted what would have been a 56 kilo record of 122.5 kg.

Ofisa won the snatch with a lift of 75 kilos. He waited until Saed was out and Tokana was into his second foul before making his entry into the dean-and-jerk.

He had the bar loaded to 102.5 kilos and hoisted it over his head in one clear fluent motion. When he called for 105 kilos, the auditorium went silent. The sellout crowd watched the skinny schoolboy do his magic. Then he retired, leaving the record of 110 kilos set by countryman Bee Leung Wai in Apia in 1983. (Leung Wai also retains his record of 85 kilos in the

Photo On Fujicolor

Champions: Taveuni Ofisa and younger brother Ofisa in Lae. They won three weightlifting gold medals each

snatch and 195 kilos total).

This schoolboy performance surprised many at University of Technology’s Duncanson Hall that warm Tuesday afternoon. The Samoans, however, were expecting success. “He’s from a family that’s very athletic, very strong physically,” said Paul Wallwork, the Western Samoan President of the South Pacific Games Council and a past Games

weightlifting champion.

“His father, his brother, they’re all into this business . . . very good bone structure, very strong people.”

As if to justify this comment, Oflsa’s

Tee time: Victor Borja of Guam at the South Pacific Games in Lae. Sensational: Diane Lacombe of French Polynesia won 10 swimming gold medals.

Fiji's Sharon Pickering broke five Games records but still finished second all the time.

Photos On Fujicolor

elder brother, Taveuni, retained the 75 kilo championship he first won in the Noumea Games in 1987. But Taveuni warned that Ofisa’s gamble to lose weight before flying to Papua New Guinea could have cost him the gold.

“He’s too tall for the 56kg,” Wallwork said of the five-foot eight-inch newly crowned champion who tips the scale at 55.5 kilos, “I was very tired,” Ofisa said.

Ofisa is a fourth-former at Leififi Junior Secondary School in Apia. His success in Lae is likely to open the door to better things. The three gold medals he won were “an excellent achievement. . . the boy’s got a lot of future”, said Wallwork, who’s also West ern Samoa’s Secretary for Youth Devel opment, Culture and Sport. “We’ll try and send him overseas on a scholarship of some sort.”

The highlight of weighlifting was the record-shattering performance of Mar cus Stevens, the little Nauruan who won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland last year. Stevens trains fulltime in Australia where he lives. He went up one category in Lae and broke the 67.5 kilo snatch and clean and-jerk records by 25 kilos each, setting new marks of 115 kg (snatch), 150 kg (dean-and-jerk), and 265 (total).

“This,” said Wallwork, “makes Mar cus Stevens like number six in the world.”

Stevens is preparing for the Olympic Games in Barcelona next year. It is likely that he would be an Australian citizen by then and join the team from Down Under. His medal chances are good.

In the meantime, South Pacific Games newcomer Ofisa Ofisa is the man to watch in this part of the world. He aims to move up one category for the 1995 Games in Papeete.

By then he won’t be a schoolboy anymore. He will be a hero. □

Photos On Fujicolor

Lead-up: Pierre Sannel of Vanuatu, left, fights Solomon Islands' Vincent Bitiai in the 60 kilo preliminary in Lae. Bitiai won on points

Photo On Fujicolor

Joy: Fiji's Caucau Turagabeci and Maraia Lum On (right) celebrate with manager Maxime Bentley. Turagabeci and Lum On won the bowls singles gold medals