Update: 12:19PM For 12-year-old Rosemarie Rova, the Port Moresby 2015 Pacific Games are more about getting experience on the international stage than winning medals.
Rova, the youngest member of Fiji’s
swimming team, said she was pleasantly surprised with her fourth-placed finish
in her first final of the Games, the women’s 400m individual medley at BSP
Arena on Monday.
“I feel really good about coming
fourth out of the many swimmers competing,” she said.
“I feel like I’ve done enough. I
wouldn’t ask for anything else.”
The winner of the race was Lara
Grangeon (NCL) who finished 46 seconds faster than Rova, is almost twice her
age at 23, and was the winner of 16 gold medals at the Noumea 2011 Pacific
Games.
Rova believes she will benefit from
swimming against more experienced competitors.
“It’s very nerve wracking but I guess
it will help me to improve. I find it very good to push me.”
Rova also gets pushed in the sport by
her two older sisters; Cheyenne, 20, who is also competing in Port Moresby and
Adele, 19, who is at home in Nadi.
Swimming really is a family affair for
the Rovas. Rosemarie’s father, Ben, recently became the president of Fiji
Swimming.
In Port Moresby, Rosmarie is focusing
more on her six other events this week and less about the future, or the
possibility of competing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“I’m not sure about that because we
have a lot of competition in my swim team and they’re really good,” Rova said.
“I’ll wait a bit longer for my time to
come.”
