“Saimoni Tamani ran the race of his life on Thursday 23 July 1970 to bring Fiji its first medal in Track and Field at any Commonwealth Game or Olympic Game”
That is how Fiji Times of 25 July 1970 described the performance of Saimoni Tamani, the lone Fiji Track and Field athlete to the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where he won a bronze medal in the 400m in the time of 45.82 seconds.
Saimoni Tamani also represented Fiji in:
- 1966 Noumea South Pacific Games where he won a gold medal in 4x400m relay
- 1969 Port Morseby South Pacific Games where he won gold medals in
- 400m
- 800m
- 4x400m relay
In 1971 The Athletes Congress of the United States of America rated Saimoni as the world’s best 400m indoor runner. He still holds the Oceania 400m indoor record of 47.0 seconds which he set in 1971 at the time of his induction. Saimoni still appears on the Oceania Top Ten All Time list for the 400m at the time of his induction.
Due to injury this great Fijian athlete, who hails from Bua, had to retire at his prime in 1971.
He now lives with his family in the State of Washington on the West Coast of the United States of America.