Face of Nation : At 20, she has become one of Australia’s strongest women, and in the process has won a weightlifting bronze medal at the Pacific Games. It’s an emotional moment for the young Brisbane athlete, who has just switched allegiances from Nauru to Australia.
Last year she won Nauru’s only medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, a silver in the women’s super heavyweight division. “It’s something I’ll forever cherish,” she said.
Her latest medal comes just a week after the 10-year anniversary of her mother’s death. Tears come to Amoe-Tarrant’s eyes as she talks about her. “I was just freaking out. I was just putting up a brave face but really deep down I was a mess,” she said. “I just hope she’s proud.”
Amoe-Tarrant spent her early childhood growing up in Nauru, where her mum struggled with kidney problems. Like many Nauruans, she was forced to travel overseas to seek medical treatment.
“My mum went to Fiji to get surgery to have [a kidney] removed, and was waiting for a transplant,” Amoe-Tarrant said. “Money problems back in Nauru [meant] mum had to be sent back with just one kidney.”
Without a transplant, her mother died in 2009, and Amoe-Tarrant’s grandparents, Rick and Thelma, promised to bring the family to Australia.
It took three years, but the kids arrived in Brisbane in 2012. Amoe-Tarrant became an Australian citizen in 2016, but the desire to represent Australia stretches back to the day she arrived.
It had always been a her goal to compete on the international stage, for either country, but after lifting for Nauru in front of an Australian crowd on the Gold Coast, she decided to switch. It wasn’t a decision she made lightly.
“My ex-teammates, there were some I knew would be disappointed,” she said. But through the sacrifices her grandparents made, Australia became her home.
“I’m forever grateful to my grandparents … they have my back and they just support me so much,” she said.
Amoe-Tarrant had not always planned to be a weightlifter — as a kid, she trained to compete in shotput. She says an uncle tricked her into trying out.
“He told me that we were going to the gym, just do some weights and squats,” she said.
The passion has taken her to New Caledonia, where she trains at Oceania Weightlifting Institute. The 20-year-old has a pang of guilt about leaving her grandparents to care for her teenage brother and sister. “I should be at home helping them, working, helping them with everything,” she said. “But I’m in New Caledonia I am following my dreams, doing what I love most.”
