Formerly known as Samson, the ‘happy go lucky’ heavyweight with Cook Islander heritage is out to honour his late grandfather in Paris
Two days before he became the first Australian to win an Olympic super heavyweight bout, boxer Teremoana Junior was wandering around the Olympic village. The Sydney-born Brisbane resident, making his Olympics debut, bumped into Cook Islands chef de mission Matt Short.
Short is in Paris with a group of just six officials and athletes from one of the world’s smallest nations, population 15,000. The pair had only met briefly before, but the lawyer from Rarotonga – the largest of the Cook Islands – and the towering 26-year-old shared a customary greeting before Teremoana reached into his bumbag.