Iuniarra Sipaia

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.^[2] She won the bronze medal at the 2011 Pacific Games.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.^[5][6]

After the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games she was subsequently suspended for using Triamcinolone acetonide.^[7] 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.^[8] She qualified for the 2020 Olympic games, but was unable to attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[9]

At the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships in September 2023 she qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.^[10] In 2024, she finished in 11th place in the women's +81 kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.^[11]