Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...

made their first ever appearance in an Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 when the country sent three athletes to the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

 in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. Athletes from Tuvalu competed in two events.

Tuvalu's flagbearer

2008 Summer Olympics national flag bearers

During the Parade of Nations portion of the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag...

 during the Games' opening ceremony

2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time on August 8, 2008, as 8 is considered to be a lucky number. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture...

 was weightlifter Logona Esau

Logona Esau

Logona Esau is a Tuvaluan weightlifter.-Biography:He was the first athlete from Tuvalu to win a medal at an international competition, when he took bronze at the Pacific Mini Games in Koror in 2005. In 2007, he won silver in the men's 69 kg at the Pacific Games in Apia, lifting 141 kg...

.

History

The nation of Tuvalu is a Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

n island nation

Island nation

An island country is a state whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. As of 2011, 47 of the 193 UN member states are island countries.-Politics:...

, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 midway between Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. A former colony

Colony

In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....

 of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, the island nation became fully independent within The Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 in 1978. The nation has an approximate population of 12,000. Tuvalu's international participation in sports has been limited, however weightlifter Logona Esau

Logona Esau

Logona Esau is a Tuvaluan weightlifter.-Biography:He was the first athlete from Tuvalu to win a medal at an international competition, when he took bronze at the Pacific Mini Games in Koror in 2005. In 2007, he won silver in the men's 69 kg at the Pacific Games in Apia, lifting 141 kg...

 won the nation's first international competition medal during the Pacific Mini Games in 2005, when he won the bronze

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

. He was later awarded a silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

 at the 2007 Pacific Games

2007 Pacific Games

The 2007 Pacific Games were held in Apia, Samoa, from 25 August to 8 September, 2007. The Games were also known as the XIII South Pacific Games....

.

Tuvalu created its National Olympic Committee

National Olympic Committee

National Olympic Committees are the national constituents of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, they are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games...

 in 2004, and gained International Olympic Committee

International Olympic Committee

The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...

 recognition in 2007 during the IOC's meetings in Guatemala City

Guatemala City

Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...

. The nine small islands that comprise of Tuvalu own its own sports infrastructure. However, the nation has eleven active federations of national sports. Included in federation are the following Olympic sports: badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, weightlifting

Powerlifting

Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...

, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 and table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

. The admittance of Tuvalu, along with Montenegro

Montenegro at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Montenegro competed as an independent nation for the first time at the Olympic Games at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Montenegro was the youngest nation to participate in the 2008 Summer Olympics....

 (who participated as Serbia and Montenegro

Serbia and Montenegro at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Serbia and Montenegro competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The nation competed previously as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the 2000 Summer Olympics...

 at the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

) and Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands at the 2008 Summer Olympics

The Marshall Islands gained International Olympic Committee recognition in 2007, and sent a team to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, for their first ever appearance....

 brought the total number of nations competing in the 2008 Olympics to 205.

The members of the Tuvaluan team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were Logona Esau

Logona Esau

Logona Esau is a Tuvaluan weightlifter.-Biography:He was the first athlete from Tuvalu to win a medal at an international competition, when he took bronze at the Pacific Mini Games in Koror in 2005. In 2007, he won silver in the men's 69 kg at the Pacific Games in Apia, lifting 141 kg...

 and two competitors in the woman's and men's 100 metre sprint. The two runners were Asenate Manoa

Asenate Manoa

Asenate Manoa is a Tuvaluan athlete who represented Tuvalu at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She was the first runner and first female representative of Tuvalu at the Olympic Games....

, who also was the nation's first female Olympian, and Okilani Tinilau

Okilani Tinilau

Okilani Tinilau is a Tuvaluan sprinter and footballer.He represented Tuvalu at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, during the country's first ever participation in the Olympic Games...

. Both runners trained in Suva

Suva

Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

 alongside members of the Fiji national team

Fiji at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Fiji sent a team to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony was female sprinter Makelesi Bulikiobo...

.

Athletics

Athlete	Events	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final	Rank
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result
Okilani Tinilau Okilani Tinilau Okilani Tinilau is a Tuvaluan sprinter and footballer.He represented Tuvalu at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, during the country's first ever participation in the Olympic Games...	Men's 100 m Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 metres The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.-Qualification:Each National Olympic Committee was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A standard in the qualifying period...	11.48 NR	8	Did not advance					77
Asenate Manoa Asenate Manoa Asenate Manoa is a Tuvaluan athlete who represented Tuvalu at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She was the first runner and first female representative of Tuvalu at the Olympic Games....	Women's 100 m Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's 100 metres -Results:All times shown are in seconds. The following abbreviations are used:* Q denotes qualification by place* q denotes qualification by time* PB denotes personal best* SB denotes season best* NR denotes national record...	14.05 NR	8	Did not advance					83

Legend: NR - National record

Competitors in athletics events could qualify for the next round of competition in two ways. Qualifying by right involved ranking high enough in their heat, and qualifying by result meant ranking high enough in overall standings. Ranks shown are thus those within each heat, not in overall standings.

Weightlifting

• Men's 69 kg: Logona Esau
  Logona Esau
  Logona Esau is a Tuvaluan weightlifter.-Biography:He was the first athlete from Tuvalu to win a medal at an international competition, when he took bronze at the Pacific Mini Games in Koror in 2005. In 2007, he won silver in the men's 69 kg at the Pacific Games in Apia, lifting 141 kg...
  
   was the first Tuvaluan to participate in Olympic weightlifting.

Athlete	Event	Snatch		Clean & Jerk		Total	Rank
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Logona Esau Logona Esau Logona Esau is a Tuvaluan weightlifter.-Biography:He was the first athlete from Tuvalu to win a medal at an international competition, when he took bronze at the Pacific Mini Games in Koror in 2005. In 2007, he won silver in the men's 69 kg at the Pacific Games in Apia, lifting 141 kg...	Men's −69 kg Weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 69 kg The men's 69 kg weightlifting event was the third lightest men's event at the weightlifting competition, limiting competitors to a maximum of 69 kilograms of body mass. The competition took place between August 11 and 12 and was divided in three parts due to the large amount of competitors...	110	29	144	23	254	23