16-year-old judo girl from the island nation of Kiribati arrives at the athletes’ village after two days due to lack of direct flights ‘3-member team’ posts photos to commemorate the competition
Daria Bilodid (24), a member of the Ukrainian women’s judo team, draws cheers from fans just by appearing at the stadium. Not only is she outstanding in her skills, having won a bronze medal in the 48kg class at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, but she also has the looks to back it up, as she was chosen as the cover model for the fashion magazine ‘Vogue’ ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Photo source: International Judo Federation website
However, when Bilodid finished the first round of the 57kg class at the Paris Olympics on the 30th of last month (local time), the spotlight was on his opponent, Nera Tivwa (16, Kiribati, pictured). This was even though Bilodid won the match just 6 seconds into the match.
Kiribati is an island nation with a population of about 130,000, located northeast of Australia. The distance from Kiribati to Paris, France is about 14,000km. There were no direct flights, so it took almost two days just to get to the Olympic Village. And then, just 6 seconds into the match, he finished his Olympic debut.
Tivwa is the youngest judo player in this competition. She is two years younger than the second youngest player, Mariama Koroma (18, Sierra Leone). Tivwa is a black belt in the Olympics, but she is actually a blue belt. She has not won an international competition since moving up from the 52kg to the 57kg class.
In short, Tivwa is an athlete who embodies the “Olympic spirit” of “emphasizing meaning in participation.” All three Kiribati athletes in this competition are like that. Tivwa, who served as the flag bearer at the opening ceremony, commemorated her first Olympic appearance by posting a photo on social media of herself and two fellow athletes in front of her country’s flag in the athletes’ village.
Surinamese badminton player Soren Opti (27) is also an Olympic spirit embodyer. He also flew 7,000km from Suriname in South America, but his performance was dismal. In the first preliminary match, he lost 0-2 (5-21, 7-21) to the world’s No. 1 Switch (28, China) and withdrew from the second match due to a knee injury. This is his second Olympics, and Offee has never won a single set in the Olympics. Offee said, “I’m glad I got a few good scores this time,” and “I can’t forget the experience of seeing (basketball star) LeBron James and Stephen Curry at the opening ceremony.” 안전놀이터
