GUAM’S MIA LEE REAPS HER REWARD
Amaya Bollinger’s silver yesterday in the Women’s 200m Butterfly seemingly inspired her teammates on day 5 of competition, the final day in the pool at the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau. Team Guam capped off a hugely successful Games by adding two further medals to their collection totalling three for the tournament, a remarkable achievement, one which their entire nation can be proud of. Israel Poppe showed his class, timing the Men’s 200m freestyle well to bring home the bronze.
“I was just trying to get myself mentally ready for it because I know it’s one of my hardest events that I swim, So I just tried to work on my pacing”
Reacting to his time, 1:56.69, Israel said “Oh wow, that’s pretty good. That’s almost a second faster than what I went this morning. I didn’t think I was going to do that.”
Guam’s success this week, and the wider impact was on his mind.
“It’s really motivated me to get a medal because I didn’t want to be one of the ones that didn’t get one, I want to be one of the best on my team and the best on these islands”.
Mia Lee, who was competing in her 5th Final of the week so far, went one better than her two previous 4th placed finishes to take her first medal claiming bronze in the Women’s 50m Freestyle. The 17 year old could not contain her beaming smile on the podium
“Looking back on the race, it really is a blur, but I feel like every part of my race that I planned out, I executed the way that I wanted. Guam is a really, really small island and our swimming community isn’t that big so it’s really nice to be able to bring home some hardware.”
Mia’s suitcase will be slightly heavier on the way home. Placed alongside her cherished Rubik’s cube, which she has solved in her personal time of 31 seconds, will be a bronze medal having gone 26.95 in the Final.
Amaya Bollinger qualified for the 200M Freestyle Final where she went 5th fastest overall with her 2:14.32. Reflecting on the week she said,
“This whole meet was fun, I made a lot of new personal bests so I’m really happy with that and then I was able to get a medal. I’m really grateful to end off on a high note. It was amazing to have my fellow teammates get two medals today, I’m really proud of them.”
And so wraps up Guam’s time at the Pacific Mini Games here in Palau. The team of young superstars has a bright future ahead of them and we look forward to tracking their progress at upcoming international competitions.
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Words & interviews: The Reporters’ Academy. Photos: Ryota Nishida