Veteran Fiji point’s scorer Olive Whippy made headlines in 1985 when she was dropped from the national women’s basketball team heading into the Oceania Championships in Suva.
In an article published by this newspaper 32 years ago on August 6, the former national basketball player was dropped from the team because she was a Mormon and could not play on a Sunday.
Apart from her role as a full-time working wife, mother and grandmother, Olive represented Fiji in basketball from 1979 to 2003.
She married Paul Whippy and has six children.
She was born Olive Henning at Waiyevo, Taveuni but raised by her aunt at Vunivalu Rd, off Brown St, Suva with her other siblings.
She was known to be very outgoing and independent.
Olive had a normal upbringing like most kids who grew up at Brown St. She attended Stella Maris Primary School and later enrolled into St Joseph’s Secondary School to complete her high school education.
After high school, she decided to find a job to help out with financial constraints at home.
She applied for a job with Westpac and was offered a position as a customer service representative.
“I felt good because I was able to get a job. I never looked back from there, I started off from customer service then to savings, examiner, bank teller and later team leader in foreign exchange,” Olive said during an interview with The Fiji Times in 2008.
Olive said most people generally thought banking was all about handling money but there were different areas of specialty including marketing, foreign exchange and information technology.
In 1992, she attended a managerial course in Italy sponsored by the International Labour Organisation.
During that visit, Olive had the opportunity to travel to various countries including Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Vatican in Rome.
Juggling family, her love for sports and work, Olive managed to make her country proud and family happy, all this while climbing the success ladder work.
