Itte Detenamo

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games • Other
SexMale
Full nameItte Junior Ronson•Detenamo
Used nameItte•Detenamo
Born22 September 1986 in Buada, Buada (NRU)
Measurements175 cm / 148 kg
NOC Nauru

Biography

Itte Detenamo of Nauru is a three-time Olympian in the men’s super-heavy weight class (105+ kg) of weightlifting. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens he finished 14th and at the 2012 Games in London, he finished 13th. At the 2008 Games in Beijing, he was Nauru’s only Olympian and had his best Olympic finish of 10th. At both the Olympic Games of 2008 and 2012, he carried his country’s flag in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Detenamo has competed in six World Championships with a best finishes of 10th in 2011 and 12th in 2009. He had two top-10 finishes at the World Junior Championships, finishing fifth in 2005 and ninth in 2006. Detenamo is a three-time Oceanian Championships gold medalist (2014, 2015, 2016) and a 2012 silver medalist and a two-time gold medalist at the Pacific Games in 2011 and 2015.

A winner of three Commonwealth Games medals, two silvers (2010, 2014) and a bronze (2006), and disappointed to have not finally won the Commonwealth gold in 2014 (where he was the Opening Ceremony flagbearer), he still maintained Nauru’s proud record of winning a medal at every Commonwealth Games they have been entered in.

Detenamo comes from a family of weightlifters including his father and sister. At 163kg (359 lbs), Detenamo’s average food consumption begins with a dozen eggs and ends with a whole roast chicken. His weightlifting heroes include the great Olympic champions Pyrros Dimas of Greece, Naim Süleymanoğlu of Turkey, and his countryman Marcus Stephen. He is the cousin of Quincy Detenamo who competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta in the middleweight division, finishing 20th. Quincy also competed at the World Junior and World Championships twice each in 1988 and 1989.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
2004 Summer Olympics Weightlifting NRU Itte Detenamo
Super-Heavyweight, Men (Olympic) 14
2008 Summer Olympics Weightlifting NRU Itte Detenamo
Super-Heavyweight, Men (Olympic) 10
2012 Summer Olympics Weightlifting NRU Itte Detenamo
Super-Heavyweight, Men (Olympic) 11

Other participations

Games Role NOC As
2008 Summer Olympics Flagbearer at the Closing Ceremony NRU Itte Detenamo
2008 Summer Olympics Flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony NRU Itte Detenamo
2012 Summer Olympics Flagbearer at the Closing Ceremony NRU Itte Detenamo
2012 Summer Olympics Flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony NRU Itte Detenamo

Olympic family relations

Special Notes