The Oceania Weightlifting Federation General Secretary, Paul Coffa, has dismissed claims that the sport is going backwards in the Pacific, and that rule changes for the Paris Olympics in 2024 will mean fewer island lifters will be able to take part.
As pressure mounts on the International Weightlifting Federation to clean up its act or risk expulsion from the Olympic family, Coffa says there are more world class lifters in the Pacific than ever, they are drug free, and the idea that there will be fewer island lifters competing in Paris is nonsense.
"The Olympics is supposed to be about quality lifters, not just anybody getting invited. To me the Olympic Games is the ultimate, and the quality of lifters that Oceania has today, we have never had this before. We have 8 to 10 lifters who can qualify, and when you're talking about 120 lifters (at the Games) that's almost 10 percent."
The Head Coach of the Samoan weightlifting squad, Jerry Wallwork, says the new system means that Pacific athletes who have been given wildcard or tripartite invitations to compete at the Olympics in the past, will miss out, but that situation could charge if National Olympic Committees in the region are prepared to invest more in their best athletes.
"We'll no longer go just to make up the numbers on tripartite cards...so it's gonna be a good challenge to pull up the standard, the countries have to put in more funds, more resources, so the athletes can prepare and compete at a much higher level than they used to."
"If they're supported fully by their Federation and their Olympic Committees, we could get another two or three into the top 10 in Paris, so the quality of lifters in the Pacific, it's really booming," added Paul Coffa.
However, no matter how good the best Pacific lifters might be, for any of them to compete at future Olympics after Paris, their sport has to remain on the program. Right now, it's not on the list for Los Angeles in 2028, and the International Weightlifting Federation has been warned to put its house in order, and crackdown on doping, which has dogged the sport for so long, but not in the Pacific.
"We're celebrating 15 years without one single doping case, nowhere else in the world has this happened. So our lifters are free of doping and ranking in the top 10, and they will win medals."
"The IWF is doing everything possible to change. It will take time to get back to normality and I think that the IOC once they see this happening, and the results in Paris, you will find that Los Angeles will be there, I'm very very confident of that," Mr Coffa has told Pacific Beat.