Josefa Vueti may be propping up the entire competition, but the Fijian lifter has no regrets giving up his rugby union dreams for the relative safety of the weights.

With a tomahawk haircut reminiscent of New Zealand All Black great Jonah Lomu, the islander looks like out of place among the body-hugging leotard-clad musclemen and women of international weightlifting.

"It's better than rugby, safer. It is very easy to get injured in rugby," the 29-year-old told AFP on why he gave up on his country's national sport.

"I played rugby in school. I was a backliner," said the Olympic debutant.

"But very few make it to the national team. I did not make it."

The South Pacific islands are well-represented in the weightlifting event in these Games, and Vueti has made a natural alliance with fellow solo lifters from the Cook Islands, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Tuvalu, Tonga and Kiribati.

However, the 69kg lifter is realistic about his chances in a weight class that includes Athens Olympics 62kg gold medallist Shi Zhiyong, his Chinese compatriot Liao Hui, and top-ranked Lee Baeyoung of South Korea.

All three have heaved total weights of 345kg. Vueti said he had never gone beyond 300kg.

"I don't know who will win it," he said. "Maybe China."

He said the Chinese capital's weather was "hotter than Fiji" but that "the food is good. I like Chinese."

AFP

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