EVE BURNS
Four athletes from the RMI weightlifting team returned home last Friday after medaling in the Pacific Games in Solomon Islands.
They left home and their families to train and compete for Marshall Islands, won all 10 of RMI’s Pacific Games medals, but returned to be met with no appreciation at the airport except from a few family members.
Mattie Sasser won three gold, Mike Riklon won two gold and one silver, Raymond Patterson won two silver and Merean Atantaake came home with two bronze. Takeniti Atantaake competed for the first time in the 64kg category and snatched 76kg (167 pounds) and clean and jerk 98kg (216 pounds).
All 10 medals the Marshall Islands won at the Pacific Games resulted from the weightlifting team.
While other Pacific Islands were welcoming back their athletes with music, dancing and appreciation upon arrival at airports, the Marshallese athletes were met with silence at the airport and the sound of waves hitting the boulder seawall.
The Marshallese community is so quick to criticize athletes when they come home empty handed but slow to show appreciation for the hard work that’s evident in the medals these athletes are bringing in which helps put Marshall Islands on the map.
This isn’t the first time that this has happened. But imagine how the athletes felt when their own country didn’t bother to put in the slightest effort to thank them for the hard work they put in when what they are doing is practically volunteer work.