Samoa at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Samoa sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country was represented by a total of six athletes.^[1] The country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony was weightlifter Ele Opeloge.^[2] Samoa won its first Olympic medal due to medals reallocation after the IOC's retesting of doping samples in 2016.

Samoa at the 2008 Summer Olympics
IOC code	SAM
NOC	Samoa Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee Inc.
Website	www.oceaniasport.com/samoa
in Beijing
Competitors	6 in 5 sports
Flag bearers	Ele Opeloge (opening) Aunese Curreen (closing)
Medals Ranked 70th	Gold 0 Silver 1 Bronze 0 Total 1
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Silver	Ele Opeloge	Weightlifting	Women's +75 kg	August 16

Archery

Main article: Archery at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Samoa sent an archer to the Olympics for the first time. Joseph Muaausa earned the nation's first Olympic archery qualifying spot, in the men's competition, by placing second in the 2008 Oceanian championship.^[3]

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Joseph Muaausa	Men's individual	563	64	Serrano (MEX) (1) L 88–116	Did not advance

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Aunese Curreen set a national record in the men's 800 metres, with a time of 1:47.45.^[4]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Aunese Curreen	800 m	1:47.45 NR	6	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Serafina Akeli	Javelin throw	49.26	49	Did not advance

Key

• Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
• Q = Qualified for the next round
• q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
• NR = National record
• N/A = Round not applicable for the event
• Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Boxing

Main article: Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Samoa qualified one boxer for the Olympic boxing tournament. Satupaitea Farani Tavui earned Oceania's qualifying spot in the light heavyweight class by winning the Oceanian continental qualifying tournament.^[5] Tavui lost his first match against Croatia's Marijo Šivolija, being eliminated by knockout. He had to be taken to hospital.^[6]

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Satupaitea Farani Tavui	Light heavyweight	Šivolija (CRO) L RSC	Did not advance

Canoeing

Main article: Canoeing at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Sprint

Athlete	Event	Heats		Semifinals		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Rudolph Berking-Williams	Men's K-1 500 m	1:47.839	8 QS	DNS		Did not advance
	Men's K-1 1000 m	4:00.784	7 QS	4:04.658	9	Did not advance

Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final

Weightlifting

Main article: Weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Athlete	Event	Snatch		Clean & Jerk		Total	Rank
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Ele Opeloge[7]	Women's +75 kg	119	2	150	3	269

References

1. "Pacific leaders to attend Beijing Olympics", ABC Radio Australia, August 4, 2008
2. "Tears instead of dreams for Samoan", Reuters, August 16, 2008
3. FITA Olympic Qualification - Men
4. "Lessons learned by Pacific athletes from world's best" Archived 2008-09-18 at the Wayback Machine, ABC Radio Australia, August 21, 2008
5. "aiba.org at Directnic". www.aiba.org.
6. "Samoa's Tavui suffers severe knockout." Reuters. 9 August 2008. Accessed 9 August 2008.
7. "Hale to Olympics", Solomon Star, July 14, 2008