Sam Nunuke Pera

Sam Nunuke Pera
Personal information
Full nameSam Nunuke Pera
Nationality Cook Islands
Born (1969-04-04) 4 April 1969 (age 55)
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight105 kg (231 lb)
Sport
SportWeightlifting
Event105 kg

Sam Nunuke Pera (born 4 April 1969 in Rarotonga) is a retired Cook Islands weightlifter.[1] He represented the Cook Islands in three editions of the Olympic Games (1992, 1996, and 2004), and has been named the nation's sportsman of the year five times.[2][3] Pera is also the father of Sam Pera, Jr., who later competed in the same weightlifting division at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[3]

Pera made his official debut in the men's first heavyweight class (100 kg) at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where he failed to lift 105 kg for three successive attempts in the single-motion snatch.[4] At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Pera recovered from a setback with a twenty-fourth-place finish in the men's 99 kg class, lifting a total of 285 kg (120 in the snatch and 165 in the clean and jerk).[5] Following his mediocre performances in weightlifting, he was forced to retire immediately from the sport in the same year.[6]

Pera returned from a long absence to compete at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where he finished fifth in the same division with a total haul of 277 kg.[7] At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Pera qualified for his third Cook Islands squad, as a 35-year-old, in the men's heavyweight class (105 kg) by receiving a continental berth from the Oceanian Weightlifting Championships. He successfully lifted 135 kg in the single-motion snatch, and hoisted 170 kg in the two-part, shoulder-to-overhead clean and jerk to deliver a fourteenth-place finish in a field of twenty-two weightlifters with a total of 305 kg.[8]

References

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sam Nunuke Pera". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  2. ^ "2004 Athens: Flag Bearers for the Opening Ceremony". Olympics. 13 August 2004. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  3. ^ a b Mejendie, Matt (22 March 2006). "Son beats dad in Cook Island tie". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  4. ^ "Barcelona 1992: Weightlifting – Men's 100kg" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 187. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Atlanta 1996: Weightlifting – Men's 99kg" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 192. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  6. ^ "Olympics 2004: Big names from small places set to large it in Athens". The Guardian. 7 August 2004. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  7. ^ "In the name of the father". Melbourne 2006. 22 March 2006. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  8. ^ "Weightlifting – Men's 105kg". Athens 2004. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2013.