Fiji, ahem, also a fellow sunny island set in the sea, exploded with elation on Thursday after the island nation won its first-ever Olympic gold medal.
Their men's Olympic sevens rugby team were crowned champions after crushing Britain 43-7 in the final of the inaugural tournament in 2016 Rio.
With a population of around 900,000, Fiji has all along punched above its weight in international rugby, especially in the sevens game and where rugby is considered one of the religions in the South Pacific nation.
Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama declared a national holiday on Aug. 22 to mark the momentous achievement.
“We are all proud to be Fijians right now,” Bainimarama added.
Bainimarama also said the inclusion of rugby in the Olympics for the first time since 1924 had "propped up" smaller nations like his.
The Fiji team is expected to be rewarded for their triumph, which is riding on the back-to-back wins at the world series in the last two years
However, the prime minister said: "They were not like this one, this is the Olympics."
Bainimarama also said he hoped his country would soon get back to work after the appropriate amount of celebrating. “They’re all celebrating, they’ve been celebrating for the last three days,” he said referring to scenes back home.
He also said: "Our productivity has been nil in the last couple of days, but hopefully the GDP will go in up in the next couple of weeks."
Hundreds of thousands of people across the rugby-obsessed country had tuned in to watch the match "live".
Businesses even suspended operations temporarily to allow employees a chance to watch the potentially historic game.
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