| Nauru at the 2016 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | NRU |
| NOC | Nauru Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| inRio de Janeiro | |
| Competitors | 2 in 2 sports |
| Flag bearers | Elson Brechtefeld (opening) Ovini Uera (closing) |
| Medals |
|
| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
Nauru competed at the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. The country's participation in Brazil was its sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut at the1996 Summer Olympics. Nauru's delegation included two participants:Ovini Uera, a judoka in themen's middleweight judo category; andElson Brechtefeld in themen's 56 kg weightlifting competition. Uera qualified as Nauru's top-ranked judoka, in theIJF World Ranking List through a quota slot from theOceania Judo Union. Brechtefeld qualified by grant from theInternational Weightlifting Federation of an unused quota place. Uera was eliminated byVarlam Liparteliani in the round of 16 and Brechtefeld finished 15th in his event.
Nauru participated in six Summer Olympic Games between its debut in the1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta, United States and the 2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro, Brazil.[1] The country sent its largest delegation to a Summer Games when three athletes took part in both the1996 and2004 Olympics. Nauru has yet to win its first Olympic medal.[1]
TheNauru National Olympic Committee selected two athletes, having chosen for the second successive time to compete only injudo andweightlifting.[2] This was Nauru's second-largest team sent to the Olympics, tying with2000 inSydney and2012 inLondon for this number of athletes. The Nauruan athletes chosen werejudokaOvini Uera in the men's 90 kg category, and weightlifter and2010 Youth OlympianElson Brechtefeld (men's 56 kg).[3] Brechtefeld was theflag bearer for theopening ceremony and Uera for theclosing ceremony.[4][5]
Nauru qualified onejudoka for themen's middleweight category (90 kg) at the Games. Ovini Uera earned the continental quota spot from the Oceania region, as Nauru's top-ranked judoka in the IJF World Ranking List of 30 May 2016.[6] Uera said in an interview that he started judo in 2012 from his need to learn grapples inboxing. He said he "immediately fell in love with the sport".[7]
Judo is really small on the island, there are only about 20 judokas, and every time I train, I have to train only three people, every judo session, because all the rest they are mostly kids.
— Ovini Uera,[7]
Uera produced the nation's best result with an opening-round triumph overBelize'sRenick James, before falling short in his next match to eventual silver medal winnerVarlam Liparteliani ofGeorgia.[8][9]
| Athlete | Event | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Repechage | Final /BM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank | ||
| Ovini Uera | Men's −90 kg | Bye |  James (BIZ)W 100–000 |  Liparteliani (GEO)L 000–100 | did not advance | ||||
Nauru received an unused quota place from theIWF to send a male weightlifter to the Olympics, the nation's sixth consecutive participation.[10][1] Nauru has been relatively notable for its weightlifting, as one of its participantsMarcus Stephen served as president of the country after his retirement from the sport.[11] The country has previously won a medal at every edition of theCommonwealth Games it has contested.[12][13] Brechtefeld successfully cleared his first and second snatch attempts of 95 kilograms (209 lb) and 98 kilograms (216 lb), but scratched his final attempt of 101 kilograms (223 lb). For the clean and jerk section, he completed his first attempt of 120 kilograms (260 lb). After failing his second attempt of 125 kilograms (276 lb), he succeeded in his final attempt of clearing the weight, ending up with a total score of 223 and ranking 15th and last of the competitors who achieved a total.[14][15]
| Athlete | Event | Snatch | Clean & Jerk | Total | Rank | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | ||||
| Elson Brechtefeld | Men's 56 kg | 98 | 17 | 125 | 15 | 223 | 15 |
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