Top Athletes Promote UN Message

Written by Astrid Sesega
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
The South Pacific Games are well and truly over, yet we are still talking about the major achievements of Samoa’s athletes. The United Nations is yet another organisation who is congratulating Samoa’s stars on their achievements during the Games. Three athletes have been named Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Champions by the United Nations (UN). These athletes will be using their achievements to promote the MDG’s in further sporting events. Three time Gold Medallists at the South Pacific Games, Weightlifter Ele Opeloge and Middle Distance Runner Aunese Curreen and Former Fiji Gold Medallist turned Samoa Swimming Coach Sharon Smith are the UN’s new champions. Curreen and Smith spoke at a press conference on Monday of their preferred MDG’s and what their plans are to promote them within Samoa and at future sporting events. Both agreed that one of the most important goals for sports is MDG eight which is to improve Global partnerships. Smith believes she is one example of how strong partnerships are in the Pacific. She says it doesn’t matter where you come from but she believes that the swimming federations in Samoa and Fiji have become closer because of her involvement in both teams. “That is definitely the way to go.” Smith also mentioned her experience when she went to Seoul in 1988; she says coming from small Islands in the Pacific it is about educating the rest of the world of where we come from. With sporting people a lot of time is spent overseas competing in different competitions and she says that these competitions have a big focus on making friends and promoting the country and that is a good way to improve partnerships between the countries. Curreen also agreed that MDG eight was one of the most important MDG’s when it came to sports. He says sports are all about working together and playing together to promote the sport and country. Had it not been for good partnerships between New Zealand and Australia he might not have received his scholarship to train in New Zealand. Curreen also mentioned that he hopes to qualify for the Olympics in Beijing, China next year in order to represent his country and promote the eight MDG’s. Smith expressed that another MDG important to Samoa is MDG seven which is to achieve environmental sustainability. “It is important to teach children at a young age about the environment and encouraging them to take care of it.” Both Smith and Curreen were chosen because of their achievements during SPG, Smith said during the press conference that she was extremely proud of the team that competed in the SPG as their main goal was just to make it to the finals, however, the team managed to make it to 30 out of 35 finals and came away with three medals altogether. Two swimmers, Emma Hunter and Joshua Marfleet, will be travelling to the Oceania Championships in New Zealand later this year with hopes of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Curreen also hopes to qualify for the Olympics needing to shave 12 seconds off his 800m time to do so. Willie Morell of the UN says that one reason why they chose MDG Champions from SPG to promote their message was because the MDG’s are about people and “people will listen to people that shine.” It is also part of the UN’s campaign entitled, “Sports for Development.” Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment

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