Vaiala Beach School would like to be a part of the Samoa Observer Fund Raising Campaign for Ele Opeloge. Please refer to the following write up. As Ele is from the villages of Vailima / Vaoala, we feel that it would be fitting for our school to support Ele for showing great determination and commitment and deserves some recognition for this. We will be using the funds that we collected for the February Mufti Money which came to a total of $210.60 but if you would like to make a small contribution towards this, we will do a presentation to the Samoa Observer on Thursday 9th March.
Silver Olympic Medalist –
Ele Opeloge
Eight and a half years ago, 28 year old Ele Opeloge of Vaoala, Samoa, competed against lifters from over 90 countries in the world at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China..
Ele finished a very creditable fourth in her weightlifting category.
What struck many of us when she returned to Samoa, is that she apologized to Samoa for having failed to bring home a medal.
Eight and a half years later, we find that Ele had no reason to apologise.
It was the second and third place getters who tested positive for performance- enhancing drugs who owed an apology to the world.
Ele has retrospectively been awarded a Silver Olympic medal which will be presented to her in Samoa in the weeks to come.
In recognition of this fact, the Samoa Observer has set up a ‘Samoa Observer – Ele’s Fund’ to honour her as the first-ever athlete from Samoa to attain an Olympic medal.
We would like to invite you all to join us in contributing whatever you are able to, as a gift from the people of Samoa and other supporters from overseas.
Our thanks to the Bank of South Pacific for waiving set-up fees for the account. The Samoa Observer is covering other costs pertaining to this project.
Fa’afetai tele lava from the Samoa Observer!
