OLYMPIAN and Fijian sprinter Sisilia Seavula will celebrate Christmas in Fiji for the first time after three years.
But the merrymaking, feasting and festivity will not stop the former St Joseph’s Secondary School sprinter from maintaining her fitness level and preparation to the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.
The 100 metre and 200m sprinter, while training at the ANZ Stadium in Suva on Christmas Eve, said she would try to compete in the 400m in the New Year.
“My greatest competitors at the moment are Helena Young and Ana Kaloucava and I’m thankful I have two athletes who are better than me to compete against and to help lift my standard to another level,” said Seavula.
“Now, I am doing 400 metres and it’s a new event which means I have to do extra runs and I have to sacrifice so many things and it has been hectic training for this event.”
Seavula said the Pacific Games would be fiercely contested.
“From primary school to the Coca-Cola Games, I have always trained hard to be the best and when I ‘m representing my country, it is another level of preparation not only in the field but off the field as well. There are more challenges put towards me and I have to be mindful what I do publicly and I have to sacrifice a lot in my social life and focus on my training so that I can do my best for my country.”
She conquered all obstacles through sheer hard work and the inspiration of growing up without a dad pushed her to come out of her comfort zone and create her legacy as an Olympian this is apart from the countless medals she won during her athletics career.
Seavula carried her colourful primary school’s athletics career momentum into the secondary school athletics scene.
In 2015, she was awarded with an athletics scholarship to Southwestern Community College in Iowa USA where she ran a wind aided 11.98s and because of her consistency at training and competitions, she was then nominated by Athletics Fiji and FASANOC to represent Fiji at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has considered that to be the highlight of her athletics career thus far.
