Cook Islands talents shine through at Olympics

Australia could gain their first Olympic gold in boxing thanks to Cook Islands super heavyweight Teremoana Teremoana.

Teremoana bested Ukrainian opponent Dmytro Lovchynskyi on day three of Paris 2024 via a first-round knockout, avenging his loss in points to Lovchynskyi last year.

Teremoana has also ushered in Australia's first winner in a super heavyweight fight in the Olympics, moving on to the quarter-finals where he'll face defending gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov from Uzbekistan this Saturday.

Teremoana told the Australian Olympic Committee that he's glad he got the fight "out of the way in the first round".

“I wasn’t planning to go for the knockout, I am confident in my strength, but the plan was to go out there and box, and I was landing a few clean punches and he was feeling it," Teremoana said.

“We’ve been working on everything in the past 18 months, I fought him last February and he beat me over three rounds, so I was just very happy to get my revenge.”

Spurred on by the passing of his Cook Islands grandfather before his 21st birthday, Teremoana picked up the gloves after stepping away from the sport at 19.

He added that at the Olympics he's representing his grandfather.

“I am Teremoana Junior, named after him. I used to be known as Sampson and I decided at my 21st that I was going to go by Teremoana.

“He was a family person who led by example, and I respect him so much because he walked the talk.

“Since then I wanted to put his name on the world stage and I decided I would go back to boxing and do that."

Meanwhile, swimmer and flag bearer for the Cook Islands, Lanihei Connolly, is another of the next generation carrying their legacy into the Olympic event.

The 19-year-old made waves in her debut on Saturday night, finishing the Women's 100m Breaststroke event with a personal best of 1 minute 10.45 seconds.

"It was so cool going out there with the crowd and everything, I've never experienced anything like that," Connolly said.

"Just happy to represent the Cook Islands on the world stage. It's so cool."

Lanihei Connolly. Photo /Supplied

Connolly had a successful run at last year's Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands, winning gold and silver for her country.

She also won silver at this year's Oceania Championships in the 100m breaststroke, becoming the first female swimmer from the Cooks to secure a top 10 finish at an Australian swimming competition.

Connolly said being her country's flag bearer and donning the "beautiful" outfit with it was a privilege, and that getting to meet other Pacific athletes has been good considering she's only one of two athletes representing the Cooks.

"It's so cool, I feel so privileged, it's cool to race against the best in the world and hopefully inspire other Pacific athletes to try and aim for that too."

The Games end on 12 August, NZ time.

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