He is only in his teens but he is already a champion as he scooped three gold medals and broke four records at the Oceania Weightlifting Championships at Tuanaimato.

Tovio Ah Chong, 17, was ecstatic at breaking and setting four Oceania weightlifting records in his home country as he did a clean sweep in the men’s 81 kg category and represented Samoa in three divisions at the championships to win gold in the Youth, Junior and U23 categories. 

Aside from his three gold medals, he also broke four Oceania weightlifting records in the Youth and Junior divisions with a 154 kg clean and jerk for an overall lift of 269 kg total. 

Coach and Samoa Weightlifting President, Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork is especially proud of this young athlete’s performance and his hard work and dedication to the sport.

“He has performed very well in winning three gold medals and breaking four Oceania records. He has been training with us for a little over a year now and this is the result of his hard work,” he said.“We are looking to have him represent us at the Pacific Games and he has a bright future ahead as long as he remains with us and continues to train hard. Keep up the good work.” 

Tovio Ah Chong is from the village of Leauvaa and is happy to have represented his country.

“First and foremost I want to thank God for the win and all the glory returns to him for the strength he has given me to do this feat,” he said.

“I am so happy with the results of the competition. The record I broke was 154kgs and I am humbled at this achievement. I’m grateful for the opportunity to train here with the rest of the team.

“Our normal routine begins with waking up early in the morning for our first training session and we do this every day. We train three times a day, twice on Saturday and rest on Sunday. We try to perform well during training because if we don’t, we get an added session to make up for It.” 

He understands that these training sessions are one of the main reasons behind his achievements and intends to continue to work hard to represent Samoa at the Pacific Games.

The Oceania Weightlifting Championship ended on Saturday. It started two weeks ago with the Oceania Elite Camp for the top lifters and then this week it was competition time for the 300 plus athletes.