Going for gold in green and gold

Mornington Peninsula resident Eileen Cikamatana tried athletics, netball, and hockey but nothing captivated her like weightlifting did. “When I tried weightlifting, the training, the challenges I faced, I fell in love with the sport,” says the medal-winning athlete. Eileen committed herself to weightlifting in 2014 and just four years later claimed gold for her birth country Fiji at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

At this year’s Games in Birmingham in July, Eileen will represent Australia after becoming a citizen in 2019 through a distinguished talent visa. Proud to be representing her new home, Eileen is aiming to create history by becoming the first woman to win individual gold medals for two different countries at the Games.

Eileen trains in Dromana twice a day Monday to Friday and once on Saturday, each session lasting for two and a half hours. Her coach is Paul Coffa, whose wife Lilly is also part of Eileen’s team preparing her for Birmingham. “Nothing is easy in this world,” Eileen says. “It’s all about dedication and commitment for your hard work to pay off. You can’t get anyone else to do it for you. You can look at it and think ‘Oh, I can’t do this’, but if you push yourself and not think about it you complete what you said you wouldn’t be able to complete. It’s all about you and your mind and how they work together.”

At 22, Eileen is the youngest member of the weightlifting team heading to Birmingham. She claimed bronze in 2016 and silver in 2017 at the world junior championships for Fiji before a dispute with the governing body saw her switch allegiances to Australia. She then won gold at World Cup events in 2019 and 2020 for her new nation, breaking two junior world records in 2019 in China. Due to the qualifying rules, Eileen was ineligible to represent

Australia at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, but she has her sights set firmly on gold for Australia at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“I don’t want to go to the Olympics for participation,” she says. “I want to stand on the podium. If there’s no dream, then I’m wasting my time training.”