American Samoa’s top weightlifter Tanu Jungblut entered the Tokyo Olympics land of giants yesterday and the results did not surprise.
The gold medal winner in the 249 pound class was Uzbekistan’s Akbar Djuraev with a total lift of the snatch and clean and jerk of 430 pounds. Tanu’s total lift as the Oceania representative was 330 pounds.
The next four finishers in the competition all represented Eastern European countries and Russia. Olympic weightlifting in those countries is considered something of a religion as well as a sport.
The 2021 Tokyo Olympics may have been Tanu’s final international competition. He is 31.
Tanu leaves the sport with a flourish. As one of the American Samoa flag bearers, he and his dedicated coach Monica Afalava return to the territory to develop a new generation of weightlifters to compete locally, regional and on the international stage.
Tanu’s Coach and fiancé Monica posted on Facebook, “We planned a long time ago to retire after this, so I didn’t want Tanu to have any reservations or regrets. And we can say with all our hearts that he had a much better experience here than he did in Rio.”
She ends, “With his last lift, we close this chapter and move on to the next competition… Marriage.”
