Overjoyed Fijians on Wednesday brushed aside a COVID-19 pandemic curfew and poured onto the streets of Suva to celebrate Olympic rugby sevens gold in an explosion of song, dance and fireworks.
Children cheered and horns honked after the Pacific nation’s rugby heroes vanquished New Zealand 27-12 to retain the title.
Fijians are obsessed with rugby.
Photo: Reuters
When the team won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 — bagging the country’s first Olympic medal of any hue — the celebrations included a national holiday and a commemorative banknote issued by the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
During each match of this campaign, every home with a television tuned in, and living rooms were often packed with neighbors who did not have one.
A 6pm curfew is currently in place, aimed at arresting a virus outbreak that erupted in April.
However, when the final whistle blew at Tokyo Stadium and the team ditched stuffy Olympic protocol to belt out a traditional polyphonic song from the podium, a nation erupted.
More than three hours after the curfew began families poured from the houses to dance and sing, banging pots and pans and setting off fireworks.
“Curfew starts at 6pm in Fiji but this is at 9.30pm after Fiji won gold at the #Olympics. What curfew?! Celebrations have started and Fijian people have forgotten about the COVID just for tonight,” former Fijian government official Monish Nand wrote on Twitter.
Fiji sevens captain Jerry Tuwai dedicated the win to the “suffering” people back home.
“They won’t be thinking about the pandemic now, they’ll be celebrating the gold medal,” Tuwai said.
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said that the victory “was worth more than gold.”
In the women’s competition, which began yesterday, Fiji lost to France 5-12, but beat Canada 26-12.
Teams who won both of their matches yesterday were: Australia, France, New Zealand and the US.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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