IT took eight years of sheer hard work and sacrifices for water baby Matelita Buadromo to fulfil her Olympic dream.
Inspired by her sister and former national rep Joeyline Buadromo, Matelita spent hours of training each day in her quest to stamp her image in the sport. And last week, she reaped the fruit of perseverance after being selected to represent the country at this pinnacle sporting event.
The 20-year-old also attributed her success to the support to sheer hard work, inspiration from her sister, the support of her parents and her passion for the sport.
“I was 12 years old when I first wanted to compete at the Olympic Games and it’s a very long time since then but I am happy that it was worth the wait and it’s finally coming true,” said Matelita.
“I started when I was young like four — learning to swim, at that time my sister was in the national team and she always inspired me during my early days.”
Swimming was part of Matelita’s daily life and with the support of her parents she managed her time well to accommodate swimming, education and family in her daily program.
“It was hard doing swimming and school at the same time.
“Lots of the time I could not make it because of some family functions but because my family is very supportive of me, they helped me to get through all that and I am very lucky to be where I am right now.”
The former Yat Sen Secondary School student though failed to meet the Olympic qualifying time at the recent Oceania Swimming Championships but she did not continue with her daily training until she was selected on a wild card to fly the Fiji flag at Rio Olympics.
“When I missed out the timing at the Oceania, I was gutted but I started training and immediately after that the coach told me that our journey had started and there were more years ahead for me to lift my performance.
“I was happy though that I managed to break the national record in the 200m freestyle during the Oceania.
“But I am looking forward to the big one in Rio.”
She said battling against the best in the business would be a titanic challenge and she had been working hard under the watchful eyes of her coach and former Olympian Sharon Smith.
“The challenge is very tough and I am very lucky to be swimming against the best in the world and there are a lot of swimmers there that are just gunning for that gold.
“I thank my mum and dad, coach Sharon and Dolphins club who have been supportive during the highs and lows.”
She said her Olympic dream was to win a medal and would do all it took to make the country proud.
“To win a medal it will take a lot of work but that is the dream.”
Matelita will be accompanied by Meli Malani for Team Fiji swimming and will be coached by former Olympian Sharon Pickering-Smith.
Meanwhile, coach Sharon said her two swimmers Matelita and Meli had been training very hard and had earned their spots on the team to Rio.
‘It will be a great swimming experience and to be associated with the world’s best in swimming.
“They will definitely race to their best of ability and their target is to beat their personal best, break records and improve on their rankings.
“The long-term goal is to learn from this and move on to greater things.
“Their journey is just beginning,” said Smith.
