Samoa start with a splash of bronze
Samoa secured their first medal of the games with an impressive 4:01.31 in the 4x 100m Women’s Freestyle Relay, earning them a well deserved bronze. The team consists of debut swimmer Talia Saumamao who, not only was making her first senior international meet, she also made the 400m Freestyle Final.
An impressive eight out of nine Samoan swimmers qualified for finals, two of which were Nafanua Hamilton and Salani Sa’aga who were also part of the medal winning team. A particularly noteworthy achievement for Nafanua achieving this at the age of 15, the youngest of the four Samoan juniors competing. She is following in her brothers’ (Laauli and Solomona) footsteps into the sport. Brothers who she considers as her role models. Solomona was first to pick up swimming out of the two brothers, having lessons with Samoa’s National Head Coach Suzie Schuster. La’auli then began swimming lessons after watching and admiring his brother, deciding he wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps. Family is very important for both the Hamilton brothers who mentioned the endless support their family has provided them throughout their careers.
All three Hamilton siblings are competing this week, making it a real family story.
Completing the relay team was Paige Schendelaar-Kemp, with her first race of the Games, making it a very promising start. She will also be representing Samoa in the 4x 50m Medley Relay as well as the 50m Butterfly later in the Games.
After the race the team were ecstatic and rightly proud of their performance, especially since it was their first race together. Sa’aga spoke of the chemistry they have as well as what she called a “symphony of support”. The team talked about the honour of continuing the swimming legacy, with Sa’aga proudly saying,
“It’s really nice that we can be the role models we wanted to have when we were growing up”.
The men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team made it through the heats to the final with a finish time of 3:32.62. The team consisted of Johann Stickland, Hector Junior Langkilde, as well as brothers La’auli Hamilton and Solomona Hamilton. They finished just outside the medals in 4th place.
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Words & interviews: The Reporters’ Academy. Photos: Ryota Nishida