Oceania’s Junior athletes ready for Grosseto (© Athletics Australia)
In addition to strong teams from Australia and New Zealand, the Oceania region will be represented at the IAAF World Junior Championships by 14 athletes from another 13 Island countries.
A representative at the 2001 World Youth Championships and the 2002 World Juniors, Samoa's Setefano Mika is one of the most experienced members of the team. At the last World Juniors at Kingston, Setafano ran a national record of 4:08.56 in the 1500m. Grosseto will be his farewell performance in junior international competition. "I hope to break 4:00 minutes in Italy," said Setefano during a stop over in Sydney on the way to the World Juniors.
The teenager athletes will need enormous patience just to reach Italy for the World Juniors. Nearly all team members will take at least three flights and many up to four flights which will include 32 hours of travel.
Tahiti athlete Tevia will travel from Papeete (Tahiti) to Auckland [7:45 hrs], Auckland to Sydney [3:30 hrs], Sydney to Dubai [14 hrs], then Dubai to Rome [6:20], followed by a bus ride from Rome to Grosseto. Add to this waiting times at airports and you can see the Oceania island athletes deserve a medal just for reaching the championships!!
Two other athletes, Nic Mangham from Palau (population 18,000 and area 180 sq km) and Deamo Bagua from Nauru (pop 12,000 and 21 sq kms) will endure similar journeys to participate in Grosseto and will represent two of the World's smallest nations.
The Oceania island team is
ATHLETES
Margaret Teiti (Cook Islands) 100m
Ben Wieczorek (Norfolk Island) 1500m
Teiva Brinkfield (Tahiti) 800m
Jack Iroga (Solomon Islands) 100m
Setefano Mika (Samoa) 1500m
Nicholas Mangham (Palau) 100m
Elterson Rodriguez (Fed. State of Micronesia) 100m
Miriama Radiniwaimaro (Fiji) 100m
Matevesi Telawa (Fiji) 200m
Deamo Baguga (Nauru) 100m
Anton Lui (Papua New Guinea) 800m
Derek Mandell (Guam) 1500m
Rabangaki Nawi (Kiribati) 100m
Kumimo'ui' Uhila (Tonga) 100m
TEAM MANAGEMENT
Daniel Vincente (Tahiti) Manager
Albert Miller (Fiji) Coach
PERSONAL COACHES ATTENDING
Mike Sharkey (Norfolk Island) Coach
Ric Mangham (Palau) Coach
Elias Rodriquez (Fed. State of Micronesia) Coach
David Tarbottom for the IAAF
