Reanna Solomon

Reanna Solomon
A woman lifting weights above her head
Solomon lifting weights
Personal information
Full nameReanna Maricha Solomon
Born(1981-12-16)16 December 1981
Meneng, Nauru
Died1 July 2022(2022-07-01) (aged 40)
Denigomodu, Nauru
Height165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight137 kg (302 lb) (in 2002)
Sport
Country Nauru
SportWeightlifting
Event
+75 kg
Medal record
Women's weightlifting
Representing  Nauru
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place2002 Manchester+75 kg clean & jerk
Gold medal – first place2002 Manchester+75 kg total
Bronze medal – third place2002 Manchester+75 kg snatch
South Pacific Games
Gold medal – first place2003 Suva+75 kg clean & jerk
Gold medal – first place2003 Suva+75 kg total
Silver medal – second place2003 Suva+75 kg snatch

Reanna Maricha Solomon (16 December 1981 – 1 July 2022) was a Nauruan weightlifter who competed in the women's super-heavyweight (+75 kg) category. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where women's weightlifting was contested for the first time, she won gold medals in the clean and jerk and the total and a bronze medal in the snatch, setting Games records in the clean and jerk and total. As of 2022 she was the only woman from Nauru to have won a Commonwealth Games title.

Solomon won two gold medals and a silver medal at the 2003 South Pacific Games and represented Nauru at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she placed 11th. She retired from competition after the Olympics. She died of COVID-19 on 1 July 2022, the first recorded COVID-related death in Nauru.

Biography

Early life and career

Reanna Maricha Solomon was born on 16 December 1981 in Meneng, Nauru. She took up weightlifting in the 1990s. She made her World Weightlifting Championships debut at the 1998 edition in Lahti, where she placed 16th and last in the +75 kg category with a total of 180 kg (400 lb).

In 1999 Solomon placed sixth at the Junior World Weightlifting Championships and 20th at the senior World Championships in Athens, lifting a total of 192.5 kg (424 lb) at both events. In March 2000 she finished fourth at the Olympic test event in Sydney with 190 kg (420 lb). Later that year, she placed sixth at the Junior World Championships in Prague, improving her total to 205 kg (452 lb).

Commonwealth Games

Women's weightlifting was held at the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 2002 in Manchester. Solomon, who was coached by Paul Coffa, competed in the +75 kg category on 3 August. In the snatch she lifted 100 kg (220 lb), the same weight as Australia's Caroline Pileggi and New Zealand's Olivia Baker. The placing was decided on bodyweight, and Solomon, who at 137 kg (302 lb) was the heaviest of the three, received the bronze medal.

In the clean and jerk Solomon lifted 127.5 kg (281 lb) on her second attempt. Pileggi then attempted 127.5 kg (281 lb) and 130 kg (290 lb) but failed both lifts. Solomon won the gold medal in the clean and jerk and a second gold medal for the combined total of 227.5 kg (502 lb), ahead of Pileggi's 225 kg (496 lb). Her clean and jerk and total were Games records. These records stood until the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where they were broken by India's Simple Kaur and Geeta Rani.

2003 South Pacific Games and 2004 Olympics

By 2003 Solomon was training at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Sigatoka, Fiji. At the 2003 South Pacific Games in Suva, she won gold medals in the clean and jerk and the total and a silver medal in the snatch in the women's super-heavyweight category. She lifted 87.5 kg (193 lb) in the snatch and 110 kg (240 lb) in the clean and jerk for a total of 197.5 kg (435 lb). The snatch gold medal in the same category was won by another Nauruan, Rosetta Detenamo. In October 2003 Solomon was named in the Oceania team for the World Championships in Vancouver. She placed 21st there with a total of 217.5 kg (480 lb). In 2004, she won the Oceania senior championships in Suva with a total of 227.5 kg (502 lb), finishing ahead of New Zealand's Keisha-Dean Soffe.

Solomon was one of three athletes, all weightlifters, who represented Nauru at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens; the others were Yukio Peter and Itte Detenamo. She lifted 95 kg (209 lb) in the snatch and 125 kg (276 lb) in the clean and jerk for a total of 220 kg (490 lb), placing 11th in the women's +75 kg category. She retired from competition after the Olympics.

Death and legacy

Solomon died of COVID-19 on 1 July 2022 in Denigomodu, at the age of 40. Her death was the first in Nauru to be caused by COVID-19; in that month the country had more than 4,100 active cases in a population of fewer than 11,000. President Lionel Aingimea had announced on 1 July that the first person in Nauru had died with COVID-19, without naming her. Aingimea offered his condolences to her family.

The Oceania Weightlifting Federation released a statement in tribute to her, saying that she was "a great athlete, [and] a devoted mother and wife". Solomon and her husband, Tavita, had five children.

At the time of her death, Solomon was the only woman from Nauru to have won a Commonwealth Games gold medal. Paul Coffa, general secretary of the Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation, described her as "a superb athlete, naturally strong". Marcus Stephen, the president of the Nauru Weightlifting Federation and a former President of Nauru, said that she had "set the standard for our female lifters to follow".

At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Nauruan weightlifter Maximina Uepa dedicated her bronze medal to Solomon.

Major results

Results in the women's +75 kg category
Competition Venue Rank Snatch (kg) Clean & jerk (kg) Total (kg)
1998 World Weightlifting Championships Lahti1675105180
1999 Junior World Weightlifting Championships Savannah680112.5192.5
1999 World Weightlifting Championships Athens2080112.5192.5
2000 Olympic test event Sydney485105190
2000 Junior World Weightlifting Championships Prague690115205
2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester1st place, gold medalist(s)100 (3rd place, bronze medalist(s))127.5 (1st place, gold medalist(s))227.5
2003 South Pacific Games Suva1st place, gold medalist(s)87.5 (2nd place, silver medalist(s))110 (1st place, gold medalist(s))197.5
2003 World Weightlifting Championships Vancouver2195122.5217.5
2004 Oceania Weightlifting Championships Suva1st place, gold medalist(s)——227.5
2004 Summer Olympics Athens1195125220

Notes

  1. ↑ Some later sources, including the Oceania Weightlifting Federation's obituary and the Agence France-Presse report of her death, give her Olympic placing as 10th. The International Weightlifting Federation's results, Olympedia and contemporary press reports give 11th.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Reanna Maricha Solomon". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2026.
  2. ↑ "Athlete Biography: Reanna Solomon – Nauru [NRU]". Official website of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Reanna Solomon (NRU) – results, personal bests, competition history". IWRP. Retrieved 6 November 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Solomon Reanna Maricha". International Weightlifting Federation. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hurst, Mike (5 August 2002). "Light relief as Pileggi lifts gold – Commonwealth Games 2002". The Australian. p. 30 – via ProQuest.
  6. 1 2 3 "Small is beautiful – Manchester 2002". Illawarra Mercury. 5 August 2002. p. 22 – via ProQuest.
  7. 1 2 Cormick, Brendan (23 March 2006). "Rani star of India after record duel – Commonwealth Games Melbourne 2006". The Australian. p. 16 – via ProQuest.
  8. 1 2 3 Prasad, Jeetendra (22 July 2003). "Nauru lifters still the strongest". The Fiji Times. Suva. p. 30.
  9. 1 2 3 "2003 South Pacific Games" (PDF). Guam Swimming. pp. 119–120. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 April 2025. Retrieved 8 November 2026.
  10. ↑ Pangkatana, John (22 October 2003). "Dika earns world spot". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier. Port Moresby. p. 40.
  11. 1 2 "2004 Sportsperson of the Year". Taranaki Daily News. 16 November 2004. p. 12 – via ProQuest.
  12. 1 2 "Oceania championship winners" (PDF). Queensland Weightlifting Association. p. 9. Retrieved 8 November 2026.
  13. 1 2 3 Culpepper, Chuck (27 August 2004). "Spanning the globe, we give you Nauru". Newsday. pp. A82–A83, A71 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "History". National Olympic Committee of Nauru. Archived from the original on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
  15. 1 2 3 "Vale Reanna Solomon – Nauru". Oceania Weightlifting Federation. 4 July 2022. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 "Commonwealth weightlifting gold medallist dies of Covid aged 40". Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha. Agence France-Presse. 7 July 2022. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2026.
  17. ↑ "Covid takes medallist". Bay of Plenty Times. 8 July 2022. p. A24 – via ProQuest.
  18. 1 2 Oliver, Brian (6 July 2022). "Commonwealth Games weightlifting champion dies of COVID-19 aged 40". InsideTheGames.biz. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  19. ↑ Sahay, Aditya (7 July 2022). "Reanna Solomon, Commonwealth weightlifting gold medallist, dies of Covid aged 40". WIONews. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  20. ↑ "Covid-19: Nauru records first death; Niue records 10 community cases". Loop Nauru. 4 July 2022. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  21. ↑ "Teenage Nauru weightlifter dedicates bronze medal win to mother taken by COVID". Tagata Pasifika. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2026.
  22. 1 2 "Nauru weightlifter dedicates medal to ex-champion". RNZ. 3 August 2022. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2026.
  23. ↑ "Double gold medalist lifter is first covid casualty in Nauru". RNZ Pacific. 7 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 April 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2026.