Fiji is preparing to welcome home its Olympic gold medal winners who are due back in the country on Sunday.
Fiji fans celebrate their teams gold medal win for the men's sevens at Rio olympics. Photo: AFP
The Fiji Sevens team won the country's first gold after a victory against Great Britain on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Methodist Church in Fiji, the Reverend James Bhagwan, said rugby is second only to faith in the country and he says the gold medal was a win not just for the game but for the entire nation.
He said it is a boost for morale after tough times.
Gold medalists Fiji celebrate during the men’s rugby sevens medal ceremony during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Deodoro Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 11, 2016. Photo: AFP/Pascal Guyot
"We're still in that euphoric mode, we're moving back to business but if you look at social media you're still seeing posts about the rugby, people are hunting YouTube to try and find any bit of the game they can watch again," he said.
"This is just something that people have been able to embrace because it's such a positive thing and that's what we've been clinging to for the last few months, anything that's positive."
The win is to be celebrated nationwide by a public holiday on Monday.
Meanwhile it appears the Fiji Sevens team have missed a Pacific function in Rio de Janeiro with the coach Ben Ryan saying on Twitter that he was not told about the event.
@PACNEWS1 it would probably help if someone told me about it.
— Ben Ryan Fiji 7s (@benjaminryan) August 15, 2016
