David Katoatau


David Katoatau is an I-Kiribati weightlifter.
At the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships he ranked 37th in the 85 kg category, with a total of 281 kg.
He ranked 4th in the 85 kg category at the 2008 Oceania Weightlifting Championships, with a total of 292 kg.

Career

Katoatau represented Kiribati in weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and also was the national flag bearer at the opening ceremony. In the Olympic tournament he ranked 15th in the 85 kg category, with a total of 313 kg.
In 2012, he was the first I-Kiribati ever to qualify on merit for the Olympic Games, in any sport. He finished first in the Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which also made him Commonwealth champion. As part of Kiribati's delegation at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he competed in the 94 kg event, and finished 17th out of 21, with a total lift of 325 kg. He was, again, his country's national flag bearer during the Games' opening ceremony.
At the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games he won gold in the 105 kg group A, the first ever Commonwealth Games medal for Kiribati.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he became famous for his dance routines, which he did to bring awareness of the effects of global warming on his small island nation, upon completion of a clean & jerk lift.

Achievements