The 39-year-old former weightlifter has been voted in as the new president of the Nauru Olympic Committee (NOC) to replace Vinson Detenamo, who held the position since the body was first recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1994.

 

The NOC had been largely set-up in 1993 so that Stephen could compete in the Olympics.

 

In 1992 he had been forced to apply for Samoan citizenship so he could compete in the Barcelona Olympics.

 

In 1989 the Nauru Weightlifting Federation had also been set-up so that Stephen could represent the world's smallest island nation, covering 8.1 square miles and with a population of less than 14,000, in the following year's Commonwealth Games in Auckland.

 

He repaid the country's faith by winning three medals, including a gold in the 60kg snatch.

 

It was the start of a remarkable period of success in the Commonwealth Games for Stephen and in his subsequent appearances in Victoria in 1994, Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and Manchester in 2002 he won a further nine medals, six of them gold.

 

But arguably his greatest moment came at the World Championships in Athens in 1999 when he won a silver medal in the 62kg clean and jerk event.

 

In 2005 Stephen was voted into the International Weightlifting Federation's Hall of Fame.

 

He had been elected into the Nauru Parliament in May 2003 and became the country's Education and Finance Minister.

 

Stephen became Nauru's President in December 2007 following a vote of confidence against Ludwig Scotty.

 

Stephen is also the president of the Oceania Weightlifting Federation, the Pacific region's official continental weightlifting body.