Commonwealth Games

Samoa finished in 17th place on the overall medal tally on the Gold Coast, winning three gold and two silver medals in weightlifting and boxing.

"It is a sense of pride for us knowing that we're leading as far as Oceania is concerned and for a small island country it's punching above our weight. Out of 71 countries we're doing not too bad."

Samoa's biggest success came in weightlifting, where they collected four medals, while Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali won the country's first Commonwealth boxing medal in 12 years.

Weightlifting led the way with 11 medals while boxing, lawn bowls, athletics, rugby sevens and beach volleyball combined for another seven.

The Pacific won 18 medals on the Gold Coast, their best return since winning 21 at the 2002 Games in Manchester.

Samoa was the region's top performer with two gold and three silver medals, their highest ever Commonwealth Games tally.

Papua New Guinea won three medals in weightlifting, including Steven Kari repeating his gold medal effort from 2014.

The 19 year-old beat Canada's Harley O'Reilly in a points decision Friday night in their semi final clash on the Gold Coast and said he was made to work for it.

"Honestly it was very close, too close for comfort. Next time I want a unanimous tomorrow...I think my power shots won the fight: I felt like I was more stronger than him and pushing him back on the back-foot so that's what won be the fight but it was a very tough fight, very good opponent," he said.

Samoa last collected a Commonwealth Games boxing medal in 2006 but have never won gold.

Blake was the favourite to be crowned men's sprint champion at Carrara Stadium, but the Jamaican could only take bronze after he failed to recover from a poor start and South Africa's Simbine eased to victory in 10.03 seconds ahead of compatriot Henricho Bruintjies.

Ahye became the first woman from Trinidad and Tobago to win 100m gold, crossing the line in 11.14secs ahead of Jamaica duo Christania Williams and Gayon Evans on the Gold Coast.

The 18 year-old lifted a personal best 151kg in the snatch but missed his final two attempts at 188kg and 191kg in the clean and jerk.

He finished with a total of 331kg at the Carrara Sports Arena, seven kilograms behind Venkat Rahul Ragala from India, who also beat him to gold at last year's Commonwealth Championships.

Opeloge said he wanted to win the gold medal but made a mistake at a key moment.

"I'm happy but I didn't beat (the gold medallist)...I missed my gold," he said.

A bronze medallist in Glasgow four years ago, Ioane was forced to settle for fourth place on the Gold Coast, in the men's 69kg division, with a total of 292kg.

The 29 year-old finished seven kilograms adrift of gold medallist Gareth Evans of Wales, after failing to land his final two clean and jerk attempts.

Head Coach Jerry Wallwork said Ioane paid the price for only completing two of his six lifts.

About 100 noisy but peaceful protesters were contained by police outside the venue some 90 minutes before the official start of the ceremony, attended by Britain's Prince Charles, his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The protesters, carrying signs that read "colonisation is not a game", had earlier disrupted a leg of the Queen's Baton Relay and demanded Britain's royal family members ask them for permission to visit "stolen" land.

But come Wednesday it will officially become the host of the 21st Commonwealth Games.

It'll be the fifth time Australia has hosted the event.

Gold Coast's Games will cost $2 billion.

Hosting the Games is seen as a coming of age for Gold Coast as it seeks to move out of the shadow of Brisbane.

The pressure is on Blake to fill the huge void left by sprinting icon Bolt's retirement from athletics following last year's IAAF World Championships.

The eight-time Olympic gold medallist, the world record holder over 100 and 200 metres, playfully suggested to his former Jamaica team-mate that failure on the Gold Coast will land him trouble.

"Usain Bolt was at the track in Jamaica before I left," Blake told the media upon his arrival in Australia. "He said: 'If you don't win there is going to be problems.'

Among the four athletes chosen is Frank Masoe, nephew of former All Black Chris Masoe and former boxer Maselino Masoe.

Frank Masoe will fight in the heavyweight division and says representing Samoa is a dream come true.

"I'm excited to represent my family and friends who are Samoan and the Samoan community here in New Zealand, Samoa and wherever."

The 22-year-old is part of the rising new generation of Samoan boxers.

Masoe is ambitious and says he wants to surpass Joseph Parker's achievements.