FORMER Australian Olympic swimmer, gold medallist Shane Gould is in the North with her husband Milton Nelms to work with villagers and the public with learning tips to prevent drowning.
Ms Gould, who won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze at the 1972 Olympic Games, came to Fiji to share her knowledge and skills with the locals after high drowning cases were reported in the media since 2000.
Having arrived in Labasa yesterday and visiting Savusavu area today under the banner of Shane Gould Swimming project, she has discovered some major causes of drowning in our communities.
Her main interest is to work with schools and conduct her swimming lessons with younger students.
“Even though you know how to swim, it doesn’t mean that you cannot drown.
“There are a few other factors that cause drowning and it happens when we underestimate the strength of the water,” she said.
“Always test the water to see how fast the current is moving.
“So you can throw a stick into the water to do this. We have been spreading these messages in schools and villages on Viti Levu since 2004 so we have decided to move to the North and do the same.
“This program covers everyone and for those who already know how to swim, it improves their swimming ability,” Ms Gould said.
Her husband Mr Nelms said it was always important for people to inform others if they were going swimming.
“It’s always good to go with plenty people because if one gets into trouble, others are around to help instead of just one other person,” he said.
“There are a lot of rivers and the sea in Fiji so there are opportunities to get into trouble and opportunities as well to learn and practise.
“We have three Olympic gold medallists and world record holders of these Olympic swimming events who support us with this program and they are Americans — Allison Wagner, Dana Vollmer and Natalie Coughlan.”
The couple have a local team that works on their program while they follow up with its progress from Australia.
