Salome Tabuatalei

Last updated
Salome Tabuatalei
Personal information
Born1959/1960(age 61–62)
Wailevu, Macuata Province, Fiji
Sport
CountryFiji
Sport
Event(s)

Salome Tabuatalei (Lome Lei) is a Fijian athlete who competed at international level in a wide range of athletic events and in canoeing, from 1993 to 2019. She was named Fiji's Sportswoman of the Year in 1996 and 1997. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Salome Tabuatalei was born in the village of Wailevu in Macuata Province on the north-eastern part of the island of Vanua Levu in Fiji, where her father, who had been an athlete, was a forester. She used to run with her brothers. Invited to take part in Fiji's national trials in Suva at a young age, she was prevented from doing so by the non-arrival of the boat to get her to the main island of Viti Levu. After leaving school and getting a job as a clerk in Labasa, she used to join the weekly Hash House Harriers run, as preparation to take part in Suva's annual fun run. Her training partner was a high court judge. Taking part in the Suva fun run, she came third, second and first in successive years. [1] [2] [3]

Athletic career

Tabuatalei first competed for Fiji in the Pacific Mini Games, held in Port Vila, Vanuatu in 1993, where she ran in the 1500 metres. She then competed in the 1995 South Pacific Games (now the Pacific Games) in Papeete, Tahiti, winning the 800 metres in a record time, which remained the record in 2020. In the South Pacific Games at Santa Rita, Guam she won the 1500 metres and the 10,000 metres, finishing second in the 5000 metres. In Fiji's capital, Suva, in 2003 she won a bronze medal in the half-marathon. In 2011 in New Caledonia and 2015 in Papua New Guinea she competed in the marathon at the now-renamed Pacific Games. In 2019, in Samoa, she competed in the Outrigger Canoe events. In between her appearances at the Pacific Games, she also represented Fiji at the Pacific Mini Games and at the Oceania Games. She was a judge in the 2017 Oceania Games. In 2014 she was the sole representative of Fiji in the World Sprints Outrigger Canoe championship, held in Brazil, and she also competed in the 2019 World Sprints in New Zealand. [1] [4]

In 2010, Tabuatalei took part in a three-month voyage on the Uto ni Yalo, one of seven large Vakas that travelled the Pacific Ocean highlighting conservation issues and reviving traditional sailing and navigational knowledge. In 2014, she joined a similar voyage from California to the Galapagos Islands. [3] [5] [6]

Personal life

Tabuatalei has two children. Her husband died in 2014. She works as a gym instructor at the University of the South Pacific and also as a personal trainer. [1] [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

Outrigger boat Boat with one or more lateral support floats

Outrigger boats are various watercraft featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull. They can range from small dugout canoes to large plank-built vessels. Outrigger boats can also vary in their configuration, from the ancestral double-hull configuration (catamarans), to single-outrigger vessels prevalent in the Pacific Islands and Madagascar, to the double-outrigger vessels (trimarans) prevalent in Island Southeast Asia. They are traditionally fitted with Austronesian sails, like the crab claw sails and tanja sails, but in modern times are often fitted with petrol engines.

Nadroga-Navosa Province Province of Fiji

Nadroga-Navosa is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji and one of eight based in Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is about 2,385 square kilometers and occupies the South-West and Central areas of Viti Levu, Fiji's principal island. The province includes the Mamanuca Archipelago, off the west coast of Viti Levu, Vatulele, as well as the remote Conway Reef in the southwest. The population at the 2017 census was 58,931, being the fifth largest province. The main town in Nadroga-Navosa is Sigatoka, with a population of 9622.

The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation. The World Championships have taken place every non-Olympic year since 1970 and officially included paracanoe events since 2010; since 2012, paracanoe-specific editions of this event have been held in Summer Paralympic years.

Drua

Drua, also known as Na Drua, N'drua, Ndrua or Waqa Tabu, is a double-hull sailing boat that originated in the south-western Pacific islands. Druas do not tack but rather shunt. Both ends of each hull are identical, but the hulls are of different sizes and the smaller one is always sailed to windward. The main differences, compared to proas, are that the hulls have a symmetric U-form profile, and a second hull is used instead of an outrigger. When a float (cama) is used in place of the smaller hull, the craft is called a camakau.

The Fijian double canoe was the largest and finest sea-going vessel ever designed and built by natives of Oceania before contact with Europeans.

Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee National Olympic Committee

The Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) was founded on 25 March 1949 and achieved International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition on 20 September 1955. It is responsible for entering Fiji's representatives in the Olympic Games and the coordination and management of Fiji Teams to the South Pacific Mini Games, South Pacific Games and the Commonwealth Games. It also provides technical assistance and funding to its affiliates in the areas of coaching, athlete development, sports medicine and sports administration.

2003 South Pacific Games 12th edition of the South Pacific Games

The 2003 South Pacific Games were held in Suva, Fiji from 28 June to 12 July 2003. They are also known as the XII South Pacific Games.

Rugby union is the most popular sport in Fiji ; however, rugby league, netball, and association football are also widely played. Various forms of traditional boat racing and wrestling are also popular.

Fiji Museum A museum of Fijian artifacts

The Fiji Museum is a museum in Suva, Fiji located in the capital city's botanical gardens, Thurston Gardens.

Tuvalu at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sporting event delegation

Tuvalu competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, from 8 to 24 August 2008. This was the nation's first ever appearance in an Olympic Game. The delegation included two track and field athletes and one weightlifter. Okilani Tinilau and Asenate Manoa participated in athletics while Logona Esau participated in the weightlifting sport. Both track and field athletes achieved national records. Logona Esau led the Tuvaluan squad as the nation's flag bearer in the parade of nations.

2011 Pacific Games 14th edition of the Pacific Games

The 2011 Pacific Games took place in Nouméa, New Caledonia, from August 27 to September 10, 2011. Nouméa was the 14th host of the Pacific Games. Upon closure of the registration for entries, "some 4,300 athletes" had registered from the twenty-two competing nations, although it was expected that not all would attend.

Asenate Manoa is a Tuvaluan track and field athlete who represented Tuvalu at the 2008 Summer Olympics, at the 2009 World Championships & 2011 World Championships and at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Manoa represented Tuvalu in the sport of powerlifting at the Pacific Games 2015 and won a bronze medal in the 72 kg Female category. She was the first woman to represent Tuvalu at the Olympics.

Tuvalu at the Pacific Games Sporting event delegation

Tuvalu participates in the Pacific Games which is a multi-sport event with participation exclusively from countries in Oceania. Known as the South Pacific Games prior to 2009, the games are currently held every four years.

Tuvalu Athletics Association

The Tuvalu Athletics Association (TAA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the Tuvalu.

Camakau

Camakau are a traditional watercraft of Fiji. Part of the broader Austronesian tradition, they are similar to catamarans, outrigger canoes, or smaller versions of the drua, but are larger than a takia. These vessels were built primarily for the purposes of travelling between islands and for trade. These canoes are single hulled, with an outrigger and a cama, a float, with both ends of the hull being symmetrical. They were very large, capable of travelling open ocean, and have been recorded as being up to 70 ft in length.

Isireli Naikelekelevesi is a Fijian former middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. He is the Fijian national record holder in that event.

Polynesian multihull terminology

Polynesian multihull terminology, such as "ama", "aka" and "vaka" are multihull terms that have been widely adopted beyond the South Pacific where these terms originated. This Polynesian terminology is in common use in the Americas and the Pacific but is almost unknown in Europe, where the Anglo-Saxon terms "hull" and "outrigger" form normal parlance. Outriggers, catamarans, and outrigger boats are a common heritage of all Austronesian peoples and predate the Micronesian and Polynesian expansion into the Pacific. They are also the dominant forms of traditional ships in Island Southeast Asian and Malagasy Austronesian cultures, where local terms are used.

Poro Michlyn Gahekave is a Papua New Guinean middle-distance runner.

Ana Ramacake Fijian athlete and hotel owner

Ana Ramacake was a Fijian athlete and, together with her husband, the operator of several hotels in Fiji.

Merewai Turukawa Fijian athlete and nurse

Merewai Turukawa (1938–2018) was a Fijian athlete who won the first-ever gold medal at the South Pacific Games. She competed in shot put, discus and javelin events.

Torika Varo was a Fijian athlete. She competed in sprints and the long jump and became known as "Fiji's Flying Housewife".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Doviverata, Rosi (2019-06-29). "Age Is No Barrier For Salome Tabuatalei". Fiji Sun. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  2. 1 2 "Team Fiji Athlete Profile: Salome Tabuatalei". Fiji Times. 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  3. 1 2 "Sporting Legend - Salome Tabuatalei (Video)". Facebook. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  4. ↑ Rakautoga, Venina (2019-05-12). "Swansong for champion Tabuatalei". The Fiji Times. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  5. ↑ "Campus Life at USP" (PDF). USPBeat. 9 (3). April 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  6. ↑ Reid, Felicity (2010-04-13). "Vaka sail away". Stuff. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  7. ↑ "Salome Tabuatalei". LinkedIn. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Salome Tabuatalei- Personal Trainer". Facebook. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.