Eileen Cikamatana In Tears After Winning the Pacific Games

After winning the Pacific Games in Honiara, Eileen Cikamatana was visibly overcome with emotions as her eyes welled up with tears as the realization of her win hit her. But, the Australian wasn’t highly emotional because she set a new world or even personal record; in fact, the one thing that made this championship so special to her was the fact that her family members were there to see her triumph.

Eileen Cikamatana made a career-best snatch and total in winning the 81 kg category, finishing with 115 kg in the snatch, 145 kg in the clean & jerk, and a total of 260 kg. She might have done even better, but unfortunately, she failed her last attempt at beating the Oceania record at 151 kg in C&J.

Another reason for the 24-year-olds’ happiness and excitement was the fact that the Pacific Games doubled up as this year’s Oceania Championships, making them an Olympic qualifier. Currently, Cikamatana is fifth in the ranking and has a chance to go further ahead at the IWF Grand Prix in Doha, which starts next week.

After the emotional win, while speaking to the Australian Olympic Committee, Cikamatana said:

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“This is a special moment I’ll hold forever. Finishing on the podium at the Pacific Games is out of this world.”

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Many of her family members, including her parents, sisters, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins, were there to see the historic victory, with some of them seeing Cikamatana lift live for the first time. On that note, the 24-year-old said:

“Ever since I started winning medals, I have always dreamed of being able to go to loved ones in the crowd. I feel so special to pass over my medals to my grandmother here in the place she’s from. We’re both in tears; it left us speechless. The people in the crowd are the most special people in the world to me.”

It was a fantastic effort by Eileen Cikamatana to grab the win, considering the temperatures, which reached around 42 degrees, and the humidity, which got to around 98% during the competition. As it stands, the 24-year-old is the only one from Oceania with a realistic chance of direct qualification for Paris.