Pacific Games 2023: Next Cathy Freeman, Paris Olympic hopefuls, strongest woman in Aussie team

There are big names, teen stars, future Olympians and the ‘strongest woman in the Pacific’. Top guns and interesting athletes to watch at the Pacific Games. Check out the list.

Some of the athletes to watch at the Pacific Games - and in the future

There’s an extraordinary woman in weightlifting, a rising star in sailing, a young gun dubbed the “Next Cathy Freeman’, an Olympic hero and athletes gunning for positions at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The Australian team at the Pacific Games has talent and colour galore, familiar names and newcomers to elite level sport.

The Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands is playing host to 71 Australians competing in athletics, sailing, boxing, beach volleyball, weightlifting, archery, taekwondo and judo from this week.

The event has additional significance for athletes competing in the archery and boxing competitions as it doubles as an Oceania qualifying event for the Paris Olympics next year.

In all, 5000 athletes representing 24 countries and territories are competing in 346 events over 27 different sports.

We take a look at some of the Australian’s to watch.

Ellie Beer is a star of the future making a mark now. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Ellie Beer hails from the Gold Coast and rose to prominence at the Tokyo Olympics back in 2021 where she was the youngest member of the Australian team at just 18.

She competed in the women’s 4×400m relay at the 2019 world champs and at the Tokyo Olympics.

Dubbed “the next Cathy Freeman’’, Beer is from Palm Beach, is a former surf life saving Nipper from Currumbin and top beach and flags competitor who boasts placings in the top eight at world under 20 athletics championships.

Eileen Cikamatana in action in Birmingham.

Eileen Cikamatana is a junior world record holder and one of the top fancies in the 13 strong weightlifting team.

The 23-year-old Fiji born Australian is hoping to compete at the Paris Olympics next year.

She is the first woman to win Commonwealth Games gold medals for two countries and won four world junior records as a teen.

The 24-year-old is from Sydney.

Her teammates also include Tokyo Olympian Kiana Elliot and Matthew Lydement.

Gold medallist Eileen Cikamatana at the Commonwealth Games.

NSW athlete Stefanie Fejes is an exciting beach volleyball player and just 18.

From Sydney’s northern beaches - also the home of 2000 Olympic gold medallist Kerri Pottharst - she will team with Jana Milutinovuc from South Australia in the women’s competition.

Fejes won the Asian beach volleyball championship for under 21s with a different partner, Jasmine Fleming from Queensland, earlier this year.

A proud moment for Garside in Tokyo.

A major medal contender at the Pacific Games is Mooroolbark lightweight boxer Harry Garside.

Garside, who appeared on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

He was the first Australian to achieve this in more than three decades.

Women's U20 Long Jump athlete Katie Gunn from Bluhaven.

Katie Gunn is a long jumper big on talent and promise from the NSW Central Coast.

She made the team for the 2022 world athletic U20 championships after a number of jumps around 6.20m and winning the national junior title,

She has 11 siblings, is studying a Bachelor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at University of Newcastle Ourimbah Campus and has trained with Nicola McDermott.

Katie Gunn in action for NSW.

Isabella Guthrie is a sprinter to watch.

This speedster hails from Coffs Harbour and has a twin sister, Jasmine, who is also a talented runner.

Both competed for Australia at the 2022 world athletics under 20 championships last year. Bella was part of an under 20 4x400m team which smashed an 18-year-old meet record at the Aussie champs and also won the 400m hurdle titles crown at last year’s Australian championships.

Stacey Hymer competed in Tokyo.

Australian Stacey Hymer is competing in taekwondo.

Stacey Hymer from Coburg and Reba Stewart from Deer Park are the two most experienced taekwondo athletes in the Australian team with both competing at the Tokyo Olympics.

However, Greenbank’s Rebecca Murray and Caulfield Liam Sweeney have tasted previous success at this event, winning gold back in 2019.

One of the most exciting talents in the team is Elwood’s Matthew Summerfield who broke a 14-year-old drought in 2022 with his world junior championship medal.

Sprinter Calab Law is working towards competing at the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games. Picture; Brad Fleet

Calab Law won a bronze medal at the under 20 world athletics championships and is considered a major talent on the track.

A proud indigenous athlete, Law will be competing in the 100m and 200m sprints and is on the comeback from a stress fracture in his spine.

He is one of the most exciting young sprint talents in Australia after becoming the first Aussie teen to qualify for a semi-final at a world athletics championship in 2022.

NSW athlete Mitchell Lightfoot from Largs winning gold at a state meet.

Mitchell Lightfoot is a NSW competitor with great pedigree and also considered a rising star of athletics.

The Australian 110m hurdles champion has won multiple NSW crowns, hails from the Maitland club and placed fourth in the 110m hurdles at the under 20s worlds - the first Australian runner in a decade to achieve this feat.

Boxer Caitlin Parker also competed at the Tokyo Olympics and won a world championship silver medal this year in the lead up to the Pacific Games.

In doing so, she beat the woman who had knocked her out of the Tokyo Olympic competition.

Parker is from Thornlie in Perth and 27.

Caitlin Parker at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Tina Rahimi at the Commonwealth Games.

Tina Rahimi is from Bankstown in Sydney’s west and one of six boxers competing in the women’s events at the Pacific Games.

She won bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the featherweight division and was Australia’s first ever woman Muslim boxer at the event.

A former make-up artist who started boxing for fitness.

Australian boxer Tina Rahimi. Picture: Richard Dobson

Teenager Evie Saunders from Sydney’s northern beaches is one of the guns in a youthful but well credentialed Australian sailing team competing at the Pacific Games.

The Freshwater athlete is a former Australian youth sailor of the year and won silver at last year’s world youth championships.

She and teammates Ellen Sampson from Somerton Park in South Australia, Thomas Farley from Forster and Isaac Schotte will compete in the one person ILCA 7 Dinghy class,

Australia’s other competitors Amelia Wilson from Davidson, Charlotte Wormald from Melbourne, Jarrod Jones from Brisbane and Lachlan Vize are all sailboarders.

Mapleton athlete Ryan Tyack is one of the veterans.

Ryan Tyack is one to watch in archery and the flag bearer at the opening ceremony for Australia.

This Queenslander is already a two-time Olympian and chasing a spot on his third in Paris.

He is also one of the oldest members of the Australian team at 32 and hails from Mapleton in Queensland.

Some of the athletes to watch at the Pacific Games - and in the future

Charlotte Wormald is a star on the rise in the world of sailing.

A member of Royal Brighton Yacht club, the 16-year-old started sailing in Hobie 16s but is now on an Olympic track.

Just 18, she’s already a member of the Australian youth squad and earlier this year won the 2023 iQFOiL youth women’s national championship.

The iQFOiL is replacing the RS: X as the windsurfing class at the Paris Olympics.

The class sees athletes foil above the water in what should be one of the most spectacular events in Paris.

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Originally published as Pacific Games 2023: Next Cathy Freeman, Paris Olympic hopefuls, strongest woman in Aussie team