RETURNING to the tracks after a six-year hiatus and performing like she never left it, sprinter Heleina Young is grateful for her achievements at the Pacific Mini Games in Palau, which ended recently.
The Nakoronawa, Nakasaleka, Kadavu native returned home from the Mini Games with two gold and two silver medals and even received the Mini Games’ Outstanding Female Athlete Award.
When the first batch of Team Fiji athletes disembarked from their chartered bus at the Fiji Olympic House in Suva last Friday, and many of the athletes had left for their homes, Young stood meekly when approached by this newspaper.
Palau through Young’s eyes
Recounting her experience of the Palau outing, Young was humbled by the accolades she earned, attributing it to virtuous qualities when asked what her secret to success was.
“Honestly, there was no secret. It was just a whole lot of hard work, commitment and passion for the sport and really, just discipline,” she revealed. “Now, I kind of locked in for five months, I only started training in January, and we’ve just been working hard since January and this is the result.” “All I can say is that it surprised me too.” When this newspaper spoke to her in late May prior to the
Mini Games, she said she was not wanting to place a lot of pressure on herself when facing the other competitors.
Last week, however, she admitted it was nerve-wracking. “It’s the same as always, you know? It’s nerve-wracking. You get butterflies the days before, and then on the day of competition, it’s just uncontrollable anxiety,” Young shared. “But we knew what we were there to do, and we just got in, they got the job done.”
Two gold and two silver medals
And the job was certainly completed to its greatest extent with Young scooping two gold in the female 200m final and the 400m final. She crossed the finish line at the end of her 200m final race with a time of 24.01s, PNG’s Isila Apkup in second with 24.55 and Kayedel Smith of Australia in third with 24.57s. In the heats, she was the third fastest time with 25.19s, behind Apkup with 24.79s and Smith with 24.93s.
In the semi-finals, she finished first with 24.79s, Apkup in second with 24.92s and Smith with 25.55s. Her second gold medal race, the 400m final, she finished with a time of 56.05s ahead of Papua
New Guinean athletes Patricia Kuku and Joy Tieba at 58.08s and 58.50s respectively. In the heats, she was first with 58.34s, Tieba in second with 59.45s and Naibena Tuilawaki of Fiji with 59.62s.
For the relays, she helped Fiji take home silver medals in both the 4x100m female and 4x400m relays mix events. Fiji finished the 4x100m female race with a time of 47.33s ahead of Tahiti that finished with 48.97s and behind PNG with a time of 47.18s. In the 4x400m relays mix race, Fiji took home silver with a time of 3:31.77s behind PNG with a time of 3:30.15s and ahead of Tahiti with a time of 3:39.68s.
Winning the Outstanding Female Athlete award
With four medals in her hands after nearly a fortnight of competition in Palau, what might have been the icing on the cake for her may have been the moment when she was made the recipient of the Outstanding Female Athlete at the Mini Games. Young received the award during the closing ceremony of the Games and was Team Fiji’s flag bearer when the announcement was made. Prior to the ceremony, she was exhausted and contemplated not attending the ceremony so she could properly recuperate however Fiji’s Chef de Mission, Josaia Tuinamata urged her to do so. “Honestly, that whole afternoon, I was just tired and my legs were in so much pain and I was kind of deciding to not attend the closing ceremony,” she recalled.
She was then approached by Tuinamata and asked if she would be attending it, to which he added he had given her name as a nominee for the award. When she won the award, the moment was so profound that she said it did not feel real. “It didn’t even feel real, I was still trying to process it and so while I was holding the flag, I was thinking about how we managed to do that,” she said.
“And I was just so happy with all the hard work that was put into these Games and to be able to be rewarded with an award like that. I’m just very grateful.” Heading up to the podium to receive her award, she recalled how the walk up had been “quite a walk.” “I wasn’t really thinking about which way to go because it was quite a walk and then while I was walking, I realised everybody was waiting for me so I started jogging up.”
An older sibling to younger athletes
For the athletics contingent under Team Fiji, many of the athletes who participated were still in secondary school and she highlighted what the experience was like since she was female team captain and Errol Qaqa the male team captain. “Most of our teammates were kids and honestly, they have been so good,” she said. “I guess their way of showing their support and helping me through the competition was pretty much just listening and making it so much easy for us and just doing what they needed to do and getting the job done on the track.” “I did feel like I was the older sibling, and that was an experience that I won’t forget and I’d happily do it again.”
‘My foundation, my backbone’. Taking part in a competition such as the Mini Games or any international competition is a platform where the eyes of so many interested persons are fixated upon, especially those of an athlete’s family, friends, loved ones and supporters. In her preparation for Palau, she told this newspaper in an earlier interview prior to the Games of how grateful she had been for the support of those close to her. Upon her return from Palau, her expression of appreciation for them indicated how firm that support had remained.
“My family and friends, they have always been supportive, regardless of how well I perform, whether I get a medal or not,” she mentioned. “My family is always there backing me with the path I choose to take and I’m so very grateful for them. “I honestly would not be able to do this without them, like, all the hard work and training comes from me, but the bigger support, the bigger picture,
everything comes from the back, my foundation, they are my backbone. “And without them, none of this would have been possible.”
What’s next?
Following her return from Palau, she highlighted how other athletics competitions such as the Oceania Athletics Association’s Oceania Cup in October in Tonga and even the World Championships were up next, with spots yet to be confirmed. While that will come up in due course, she plans to head back onto the track to continue being in top form. “We’ll just continue training, our season isn’t over, and we’ll just see which one falls in our path and yes, we’ll happily take on them,” she said.
