Team Fiji swimmer Cheyenne Rova

Team Fiji swimmer Cheyenne Rova says it has been the weirdest preparation in swimming that she ever had.

Rova has taken leave from her normal job, as a physical and health education teacher, to represent Fiji at the Olympics and she says her students are really excited.

This will be Rova’s first Olympic Games and she has been training in her backyard pool to overcome lockdowns and a growing COVID-19 outbreak in Fiji.

Speaking to the ABC, Rova says Olympic swimmers in the United States, Australia and other “bigger countries” have access to more tailored support, including dedicated sports psychologists and physiotherapists not available in Fiji.

Rova, along with more than 100 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from the Pacific, has received support from the Australian government in preparation for Tokyo.

She has recently been able to train in Sydney through the initiative, which has also helped other Pacific athletes coordinate their Olympic training and qualification schedules over the past month.

The Olympic Games start on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.

[Source: ABC]