In “one of the greatest moments" of his entire life, discus thrower Alex Rose won Samoa’s first global athletics medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
In a final suspended for nearly two hours due to torrential rain, he moved into the bronze-medal position with a 66.96m throw in the fifth round.
With that, he became only the second athlete from an Oceania nation other than Australia or New Zealand to medal at the world championships.
The 33-year-old was born in the United States after his father emigrated from Samoa at the age of 19.
A three-time Olympian, he has won nine titles at the Oceania championships in the discus, hammer throw and shot put.
"This is one of the greatest moments of my entire life and it's been 20 years in the making," said the former Central Michigan University student.
"I was never the favourite.
"I didn't throw 60m until I was out of college, and it's been a really long road."
The bronze medal was a dream come true for Rose, who has a four-year-old and has struggled recently to find the time to train.
"It is the culmination of so much effort for so many years," he said.
"I knew I had a big throw in me.
"I didn't make a final until I was 30 years old and I almost quit so many times.
"The last time I was here I failed to make the final. I fell on my face and almost quit the sport. It was awful.
"To come back here and do what I just did, there is no feeling like it."
The only other Oceania athlete not from Australia or New Zealand to medal at a world championships was Lisa Misipeka from American Samoa. She was third in the women's hammer throw in Seville back in 1999.
Swedish powerhouse Daniel Stahl won a third discus world title in Tokyo with a huge final-round heave of 70.47m, the silver going to world record-holder Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania (67.84m).
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