Samoa's veteran weightlifter Ioane Vaipava Nevo has won Samoa's first medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 and also announced his retirement from competition.

The 34-year-old lifted 127kg for the snatch in the Men's 67kg division, which was 2 kilos more than his personal best of 125kg and already broken the Games record for the clean and jerk with a 166kg lift. 

However, he fell short in his final lift on Sunday night and won the silver medal, while Lalrinnunga Jeremy of India won gold with Edidiong Umoafia of Nigeria getting the bronze medal.

The silver medalist was emotional, after his failed attempt to take home the gold medal, and left his shoes on the platform to indicate that it was his last competition. 

Fighting back tears, he announced his retirement from competition on Sunday night, knowing that it was his last-ever lift. The respect between the top weightlifters was evident. 

The emotional Samoan weightlifter returned to the podium, where he garlanded Jeremy with a traditional Samoan pebble necklace and hugged him, congratulating the young 19-year-old athlete from India for winning gold. 

"It's a mark of respect, of friendship," Nevo said of the gesture. "It was my way of showing respect to the winner."

Nevo was ranked the top weightlifter at the Oceania Championships in 2013 and won silver at the XVI Pacific Mini Games that same year before going on to claim gold at the 2013 Commonwealth Championships. 

In 2014 he won gold at both the Oceania Championships and the South Pacific Championships but came third in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. 

A year later in 2015 he won silver medals at both the XV Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and the Oceania Championships. 

He then won another silver at the 2016 Oceania Championships and was ranked 8th in the world at the XXXI Olympic Games that same year. 

In 2017 Nevo won gold for Samoa at the Australian International, Commonwealth Championships and the Oceania Championships and was ranked 6th during the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. 

He was ranked 4th at the XXI Commonwealth Games in 2018 and ranked 2nd at the Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia in 2019. 

In 2019 Nevo won gold for Samoa at the Commonwealth Senior Championships, the XVI Pacific Games in Samoa, and the Oceania Senior Championships. He was ranked 28 at the 2019 IWF World Championships. 

Nevo then won another gold medal at the Australian Open in 2020 and another gold medal from the Oceania Senior Championships in 2021.