The General Secretary of the Oceania Weightlifting Federation says it will be "sensational" if Papua New Guinea's Dika Toua is awarded another Commonwealth Games gold medal but lamented the athlete has been denied her moment on the podium.
Toua originally finished second in the women's 53kg division on the Gold Coast, behind the gold medal winner Sanjita Chanu Khumukcham from India.
But the International Weightlifting Federation confirmed last week the 24 year old Khumukcham returned a positive test for testosterone and had been provisionally suspended.
Her coach, Oceania Weightlifting boss Paul Coffa, told Vinnie Wylie they now must wait for the results of the B sample to confirm whether Dika Toua can swap silver for gold.
Dika Toua won Papua New Guinea's second medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, a silver in weightlifting.
Photo: RNZ / Vincent Terrence Wylie
Transcript
PAUL COFFA: It's funny that it's the same thing happened, it's incredible. The same person twice - that's unthinkable. It doesn't happen too often I can tell you but it happened for Dika four years ago and it was repeated again four years later, incredible. It shows you that it pays to be clean and you keep a good record and eventually gold medals will defeat doping, you can't help it.
VINNIE WYLIE: Obviously the B sample still has to be tested and the result from that will come but from your perspective as her coach and somebody who's been involved in the sport a long time are you expecting that B sample will likely be positive?
PC: 53 years (I've been involved in weightlifting), it's a long time. Very seldom you get a B sample different than the A sample. It's the same urine sample so if it is positive it is positive in the B sample also but unfortunately they have got to go through the proper process and that's what the bad thing is, you've just got to wait. The only thing I regret is it's not the same Vinnie (as) winning a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games: the euphoria, the crowd and the television and it's different. It's different than getting a medal by post. It doesn't mean anything. Although on paper she's a gold medallist but it takes everything away from the lifter, from the athlete - whether it's weightlifting or whatever.
The same thing as Ele Opeloge: she won a silver medal (and) it was the greatest performance of all time for us and it was given in Samoa by the Olympic Committee. It's not the same. Having the medal received during the Olympic Games in Beijing it's a different story. The media will treat the event differently but when you're getting it eight years later what do you think? It will be just shake hands and kiss and congratulations and that's it, and the same thing will appear with Dika. I spoke to her the other day - it's not the same. She feels for it, she will be a gold medal, it will be recorded as Papua New Guinea a great performance and the Oceania region winning seven gold but it's not the same like Steven Kari did at the Games. It brought the house down, it brought television, it was a different story but we have to put up with it and it's better than a silver medal I can tell you. If she pulls out another gold it will be sensational.
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