South Pacific Games sprint king Banuve Tabakaucoro has set his sights on qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Tabakaucoro failed to reach the semi-finals of the 100 metres event at the Tokyo Olympics after finishing in eighth spot in heat four of round one of the competition.
The 28-year-old finished third in heat two of the preliminaries to gain a spot in the next stage.
Tabakaucoro, who pulled out of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games because of an injury in the lead-up to the event, said the Tokyo Games was an eye-opener being amongst champions not just in his sport but other sports as well.
“I really felt that I was at the right place at the right time and I haven’t felt like that in a long time,” he said.
“I also felt that things were within reach for me. So I’m excited for the future. I’m aiming to get to Paris. Whatever performance I’m going to do on the day will depend on how I have been competing during the whole year.”
Tabakaucoro said his focus was to stay healthy and participate in more competitions.
“I want to compete as much as I can, knowing that when the coronavirus hit most of my competitions were cancelled,” he said.
“I have only been able to participate in three major competitions in the past two years and that wasn’t even close to enough. So right now I have to readjust, replan and then execute.”
Also known as the ‘Bau Bullet’ Tabakaucoro plans to take a bit of time off from athletics after coming out of the 14-day quarantine period. Tabakaucoro said he would spend time with his family to plan things out.
“I haven’t really confirmed anything yet,” he said.
“I will also sit with my coach Bola Tafo’ou and the rest of the athletics officials to see what is there for me in the future.
“But right now it is getting back home relaxing, winding down and seeing what the plans are for the rest of the year.”
Tabakaucoro said Team Fiji did very well at the Tokyo Olympic Games. He rated this team as the best to have represented the country at the Olympic Games.
“I’m very privileged to be a part of it,” Tabakaucoro said.
“Hopefully in the future other sports will be able to add on to that medal tally as well.
“What I have seen going into the Olympic Games is that it doesn’t matter what kind of form or what times you are running or what kind of performance you bring in, everything is what counts on the day. So it has opened my eyes to a lot of things.
