Mataika Tuicakau was a

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who competed in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

and

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

events. Born on Tovu, Totoya on the

Lau Islands The Lau Islands (also called the Lau Group, the Eastern Group, the Eastern Archipelago) of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about sixty islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited. T ...

of Fiji, Tuicakau was a tall athlete who excelled at

throwing events Throwing sports, or throwing games, are physical, human competitions where the outcome is measured by a player's ability to throw an object. The two primary forms are throwing for distance and throwing at a given target or range. The four most p ...

. He was the first Fijian to have success internationally in the

sport of athletics Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping and throwing. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, cross-country running, and racewalking. ...

. At the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games were the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. A documentary fil ...

he threw in the shot put to hold off England's

Harold Moody Harold Arundel MoodyDavid A. Vaughan''Negro Victory: The Life Story of Dr Harold Moody'' London: Independent Press, 1950. (8 October 1882 – 24 April 1947) was a Jamaican-born physician who emigrated to the United Kingdom, where he campaigned ...

and be declared the champion. He also claimed a silver medal in the discus behind

Ian Reed Ian Manley Reed (13 July 1927 – 7 August 2020) was a discus thrower, who represented Australia at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He won the gold medal at the 1950 Commonwealth Games in the men's discus throw event. Biography Reed was born in ...

of Australia, who broke the games record in the process. He was the first gold medallist for

Fiji at the Commonwealth Games Fiji have competed in all but three Commonwealth Games since 1938, missing only 1990, 1994 and 2010. For the first two of those games they were not members of the Commonwealth following the military coup and declaration of a republic in 1987, and f ...

and remains their only athletics winner in the tournament's history. The shot put national record of he set in

Suva Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...

in 1951 stood for over 50 years. He was the first entrant into the Fiji Sports Hall of Fame alongside rugby player Josefa Levula.Fiji Sports Hall of Fame
Sporting Pulse. Retrieved on 2016-03-16.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuicakau, Mataika 20th-century births 20th-century deaths People from Totoya Fijian shot putters Male shot putters Fijian male athletes Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Fiji Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Fiji Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Fijian male discus throwers Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics