Iuniarra Sipaia
Iuniarra Sipaia is a Samoan female weightlifter. She has represented Samoa in several international competitions such as Pacific Mini Games, Commonwealth Games, Oceania Weightlifting Championships and Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
Career
As a junior, she participated at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in the Girls' +63 event. She participated at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the +75 kg event. She won the bronze medal at the 2011 Pacific Games.Iuniarra won gold medal at the 2013 Pacific Mini Games in the over 75 kg category and set a new milestone in the sport of weightlifting in Samoa. She competed in the women's +75 kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She continued her dominance in the sport at the 2016 Oceania Weightlifting Championships, winning 3 gold medals in the over 75 kg categories. She was also part of the Samoan delegation which made its debut at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and claimed a bronze medal in the women's +90 kg event.
At the 2017 Australian Open Weightlifting Championships, she emerged as runners-up to New Zealand transgender weightlifter, Laurel Hubbard. Hubbard lifted a weight of 268 kg, which was 19 kg more than Sipaia's lift and raised controversial issues relating to the approval of Hubbard to compete at the international level.
After the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games she was subsequently suspended for using Triamcinolone acetonide. In April 2018 she cleared herself out and her ban was abolished. However, she missed the 2017 Pacific Mini Games, where she was a defending champion and couldn't compete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She qualified for the 2020 Olympic games, but was unable to attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships in September 2023 she qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. In 2024, she finished in 11th place in the women's +81kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.