Interview: Isireli. Naikelekelevesi

Interview with an Olympian

Name: Isireli. Naikelekelevesi
Fiji Islands
Papau, New Guinea Olympic Team
Track and Field(800 meters)

1. How does it make you feel to be on the 1996 Olympic team for your country?

"Good, because Olympics are world games: the highest honor"....."I have a chance to learn from different people at the games and improve from that experience."

2. When you were a kid did you ever expect to be where you are today? Did you have goals to participate in the Olympics or to even have a career in sports?

"When I was a kid I took athletics for pleasure"....."I wasn't planning on this"....."A coach told me I was good enough to go. I took the opportunity"....."It was a nice, unexpected surprise."

3. How old were you when you started competing in track and field events? How did you get started?

"Seven years old."

4. Does it seem confusing or unfair that the Olympics are done in the Northern Hemisphere's time, so that you compete during your winter in the Summer Olympics this year? And do you know if the Sydney 2000 Olympics will be held in the Northern Hemisphere's summer or that of the Southern Hemisphere?

"We don't have winter or summer seasons, we have two: Rainy and Dry."

5. How long have you been training in the U.S.?

"Two weeks."

6. After the Olympics are over, are you planning to do any sight-seeing or staying in America for a while before heading home?

"I miss school and I miss my friends, so I am going to go straight back home."

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Interview on June 12,1996 by Kari Zander
Page designed by Kari Zander
Ligon GT Middle School, 706 East Lenoir St.
Raleigh, North Carolina, 27615