Samoan heritage and the DNA for sporting success

A Polynesian island state, located around halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, Samoa has a huge passion for sport, and has produced some world-class talents.

The country’s rugby players – both in the Union and League codes – are some of the nation’s most famous names. The elite men’s and women’s teams regularly qualify for World Cup tournaments in the 15-a-side form of the game. The Manu Samoa seven-a-side squad took part in the men’s sevens competition at Paris 2024 for their Olympic debut.

Samoa has been represented at every Summer Olympics since 1984, with a high of 24 athletes competing at Paris 2024.

The country has one medal, a silver from women’s weightlifting at Beijing 2008, awarded retrospectively to Ele Opeloge in the +75kg category. Opeloge also starred in regional and continental events before her retirement, and was known as “Samoa’s golden girl”.

Could we see a new generation of Samoan golden girls crowned on the cricket fields in the coming weeks?

The highly technical bat and ball sport is not one with a big following in the population of 220,000, and requires a very different skillset to the events Samoa have traditionally succeeded in, making the first global tournament qualification even more historic.

There are athletes with Samoan heritage at the top of many sports, often in more physical and contact disciplines, and mostly represent different nations, having grown up abroad after their families moved away from the Polynesian islands. Some have gone on to win world titles, including New Zealand boxing heavyweight star Joseph Parker, dual code rugby international and Olympian Sonny Bill Williams, and Australia’s Rio 2016 rugby champion Evania Pelite.

One of Samoa’s most famous stars, Hollywood great Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, announced last week that he will be making a trip back to his motherland later this year.