Olympics: Eileen Cikamatana set to represent Australia at Paris Games
She is set to become an Olympian, with her eyes locked on winning a weightlifting gold medal at this year’s Paris Games, but Eileen Cikamatana will never forget the taunts which reduced her to tears at the start of her journey.
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Eileen Cikamatana will never forget the taunts that reduced her to tears.
‘Girls don’t do weighlifting’; ‘You’ll never make it’. The sledges dominated her childhood growing up in one of Fiji’s smallest villages, Levuka, but the doubts only fuelled her determination.
Donning the green and gold of Australia on a sparkling Sydney morning overlooking the iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Cikamatana has had the last laugh.
She is set to become an Olympian, with her eyes locked on winning a weightlifting gold medal at this year’s Paris Games.
“So, being here and proving the doubters wrong feels good,” Cikamatana says, grinning.
“It is what it is. It’s the only way to keep their mouths shut.”
Cikamatana still can’t believe her remarkable journey from a farm in Fiji to one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
She fell in love with weightlifting after spending her youth unloading 50-kilo buckloads of pig feed from her father’s truck.
Cikamatana found a joy in lifting heavy objects – and despite people questioning her ambition – she has defied the doubt to book her ticket to this year’s Paris Olympics.
It’s a reality that sets in wearing her Australian uniform and overlooking the spectacular Sydney Harbour.
“You have no idea how much it blows my mind,” she said.
“When you grow up in the smallest village in Fiji, out of the main island, it’s unreal to be where I am today.
“I remember people looked down on me, saying: ‘oh, you won’t succeed’.
“There were bullies when I used to do weightlifting. They’d say, ‘why are you doing it? It’s a boy’s sport and it’s not for women.
“I got asked if I wanted to join weightlifting, so I asked my dad and he said go for it. You’ve long been a tom boy trying to lift this and that and I never looked back.”
Cikamatana is only 24, but she has already collected a swag full of medals competing for Fiji and Australia, primarily in the 87kg category.
Dating back to 2016 in the junior ranks, she has won 12 medals, including six gold.
Cikamatana is the first woman to win Commonwealth Games gold for two countries. She collected gold for Fiji in 2018 on the Gold Coast, while she added another first-place finish for Australia in Birmingham in 2022.
Cikamatana is now a fully-fledged Australian representative following a dispute with Weightlifting Fiji, prompting her to commit to the green and gold in February 2019.
Unfortunately, a delay in her transfer of allegiance deemed her ineligible for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Cikamatana could have taken it as a blow, but instead she sees it as fate heading into this year’s Paris Games.
“My mindset was there is always another Olympics,” she said.
“It’s not the end of the world. I mean, I’m still young and I’ve got the world at the palm of my hands and we can go for the next Olympics.
“It has been a long-term goal for me – and while it has been tough – I’m still here. We didn’t give up, we didn’t run away.
“We’re facing it, we’re tackling it and now I want to finish on top and we’re not going for anything less.”
Cikamatana never set out to become an inspiration for others, but she is grateful to be in a position of influence.
She hopes her performances at the Paris Olympics can instill belief in other young girls to shoot for the stars.
“Nothing is impossible,” she said.
“Everything is possible if you put your heart into it. It doesn’t matter how big your goal feels in your mind, if you think you can do it, then no one will stop you.
“You just have to be positive and not worry about what other people say.”
Cikamatana is living proof.
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Originally published as Olympics: Eileen Cikamatana set to represent Australia at Paris Games
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