She's one of the strongest women in the world - Samoan weightlifter Ele Opeloge. Her rapid rise through the world rankings and her distinctive Samoan tattoo have made her a crowd favourite all over the world. Tania caught up with Ele back home after the Beijing Olympics.

Pres. Samoa Weightlifting, Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork: Ele's success started in 2007 where she started breaking records. South Pacific records, then Oceania records, then slowly she moved to the Commonwealth records. And we held the World Cup here in Samoa and Ele won a Gold medal in the World Cup, and at the same time she broke Commonwealth records, Oceania records and South Pacific records again.

Tania Nugent: Out of the blue, from the islands of Samoa, 23 year old Ele Opeloge lifted herself to 4th in the world rankings in the sport of weightlifting. Suddenly she was a national hero, heading off to the Beijing Olympics with a real shot at becoming the first Samoan to win an Olympic medal ... carrying the enormous expectations of her country.

Ele Opeloge: When we go to Beijing no taro, no banana only rice. My competition is very good. Very close to the girls. And the girls look me,' who is this girl where he come from?'

Tania Nugent: Her newcomer status in Beijing was soon overshadowed by her ranking and her "malu". The traditional Samoan tattoo won her many curious supporters.

Ele Opeloge: Every time I come training, I sit down, people look me, the tattoo, take photo. And me I'm very shy to peoples, but I'm not shy the time I'm training.

Tania Nugent: And not shy when it comes to competition either. In a dramatic finish, Ele missed out on an Olympic bronze medal by just one kilogram.

Ele Opeloge: I jerked my last lift and I hold, but little bit my leg is pain, that's why my back shake, I fall back, I can't hold, that's why I missed a medal.

Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork: I think Ele's very unique. She's only been lifting for 3 years and to reach this level in a sport like weightlifting in 3 years is fantastic, it's incredible.

Tania Nugent: For the Opeloges, weightlifting is a family affair.

Ele's father, Tovia Opeloge: We support my children in this game. All my 8 children, 3 girls, 5 boys, they're all weightlifting.

Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork: I gotta hand it out to the Opeloge family. The parents put a lot of time into encouraging the kids to come and do the sport and be good at it. Because it's very rare here in Samoa. The parents will ask the children to go to a work or go to school to try and assist with the family. But here we have a family that really gets behind the kids.

Tania Nugent: Ele's little sister Mary and older brother Niusila are both weightlifting champions. They're always on hand for support when their sister is training.

Ele Opeloge: Training so hard but every time, two times training - in the morning and afternoon. That's why the body is feel good training training, training

Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork: It's her mental attitude to training. She's very committed. She doesn't stop. She's not afraid of afraid of heavy weights.

Tania Nugent: The focus now is the London Olympics in 2012. Samoa's Olympic Committee announced a scholarship for Ele so she can keep up her full-time training schedule.

President of the Samoa Olympic Committee, Tapasu Leung Wai: So she'll have some sort of revenue and we'll get her a coach from China and then in the last year prior to London she'll go to China to train and then travel on to London.

Tania Nugent: Ele's Beijing experience has allowed her, her coaching team and her country a glimpse of what's possible in 2012.

Tapasu Leung Wai: No longer we are going just for participation, but we are going knowing that we are right up there... so it's a different feeling.