Tarona Taafaki, a 20-year-old boxer, has won Tuvalu’s first Commonwealth Games medal despite not winning a single bout. She was one of five entrants in the women’s 75kg category and received a bye to the semi-finals, where she lost to India’s Lovlina Borgohain on a unanimous points decision on Friday. Under Commonwealth Games rules, every boxer eliminated in the semi-finals receives a bronze medal.
Taafaki was among just eight athletes and para-athletes representing Tuvalu in Glasgow. “I’m very proud and very glad to be able to represent my country on this big stage,” she said. “Probably 95% of the audience don’t know where my country is, so I feel very privileged to represent Tuvalu.”
A medal celebrated by a nation
Her coach and father, Badi Taafaki, said the medal would be celebrated by the population of about 10,000 across the 10-square-mile nation, the world’s fourth smallest. He also said it should highlight the climate emergency.
“For the people of Tuvalu, this medal means everything,” he said. “We’re one of the smallest nations in the world, so a medal like this is hugely significant. We have worked so hard to get here. For me as a coach, it’s a stepping stone.”
Training on the runway
Athletes often train on the island’s airport runway because it is its most stable land mass. With sea levels rising, climate experts predict half of the nation’s capital, Funafuti, could be submerged by 2050.
“Yes, we train on the runway,” said Taafaki. “When a plane comes in, everyone moves aside. As soon as it leaves, we go back on the tarmac, because there is nowhere else to train.”
Boxing in the bloodline
Tarona and her brother Pasoni, who also boxed in the Commonwealth Games, are based in New Zealand, where facilities are better. Badi Taafaki said boxing barely existed when he was growing up in Tuvalu.
“We didn’t have gloves, so we were forced to fight bare-knuckle, and hit bags filled with sand. My children are very fortunate. They have opportunities and facilities that I never had. Boxing is our whole life. Strength is in our bloodline. It’s where our genealogy comes from.”
“If we can win medals, more people around the world will recognise Tuvalu and begin to understand the challenges we face because of climate change. It is very real for us. The coastal erosion is unbelievable, and the countdown is now measured in years, not decades.”
“Some islands have lost half their land. At high tide the sea comes right through. People living on the coast can’t sleep if there’s a storm, because the waves can come straight through their homes.”
Not the first
Taafaki is not the first boxer to win a Commonwealth Games medal without winning a fight. Australia’s Taylah Robertson earned bronze in the women’s flyweight category on the Gold Coast in 2018 despite losing her first bout to England’s Lisa Whiteside.
