In 1999, Nadroga lass Iliseva Batibasaga upheld her family’s proud sporting tradition in Australia after returning from a medal-studded trip to the United States and Canada.
A The Fiji Times report published on Sunday, September 5, 1999, said the 14-year-old returned from a trip of a lifetime with six medals from international track and field competitions in the United States and Canada.
On her return, she was nominated for the Young Australian Award.
Speaking from Brisbane, her father, Isimeli Batibasaga, a former national halfback in the 1980s, and his wife, Cathy, were proud of their daughter’s achievement.
“At only 14 years old and to have achieved so much, we were proud of her,” he said.
“As parents, we felt that being nominated for the award was an honour in itself.”
Iliseva was a student at Banyo High School in Brisbane and was nominated for the award by Member for Nudgee Neil Roberts and Northgate councillor Kim Flesser.
She was part of a 21-strong Australian team that competed in three competitions.
Her first competition was the CALTAF Challenge in Calgary, Canada, where the highlight of the day was meeting Donovan Bailey, the former world 100-metre record holder.
Calgary was a warm-up competition before the rest of the Australian athletes joined the team.
The second meet was the Jack Brow Memorial competition in Kelowna, which attracted 1100 competitors.
Iliseva won silver medals in the Under-15 shot put and discus and a bronze in the javelin.
“Our final meet was in Utah called the Dixie Dash where competitors were invited to compete from surrounding states.
“I competed in the Under-15 grade and won a gold medal for shot put, a silver for javelin and a silver in discus.
“Apart from competing, we did some sightseeing along the way.
“We went to Universal Studios, Disneyland, Banff Mountain and Lake Louise.
“For some of us, like myself, it was the first time we had seen snow. It was much fun. We went canoeing at Lake Louise where the water was two degrees and was freezing.
“We stayed at Calgary University for the first meet and then visited Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Abbotsford, Rogers Pass, Hope, Merritt, Nevada and the Grand Canyon.
“I saw a bear running alongside the road, a raccoon chewing someone’s lunch, deer along the way and squirrels roaming freely at Stanley Park in Vancouver and Rogers Pass.
“The city of Las Vegas was built on a desert so you can imagine it was very, very hot. One day it was 106 degrees. Apparently, it was their hottest day of the year and I was quite glad to come home to a cooler climate. We travelled for 21 days on 12 planes, stayed at five hotels and travelled 1800 kilometres by bus to our destinations.
“I had so many memories and 14 rolls of film to keep them.”
The Batibasaga clan hoped to come to Fiji for a holiday soon to catch up with family and friends, but at the time they were finding it difficult to fit the trip around Iliseva’s training and competition schedule.
Iliseva also matched her sporting achievements with first-class scholastic performance. She received straight As the previous year.
She also donated her time to the local community by coaching and judging gymnastics competitions.
Iliseva’s commitment was reciprocated by locals who helped support her trip.
