Areki strikes gold after three-year grind

Tanesa Areki was determined to make her mark after three years of hard work when she won the gold medal for Mahatma Ghandi Memorial School (MGM) in the intermediate girl’s shotput event at the Fiji Secondary Schools Athletics Finals in Suva yesterday.

She threw a distance of 11.81 metres.

“I’d like to dedicate my first gold medal in the Fiji Finals to coach Maurice Erasito because he had trained me for the past three years,” Areki said.

“I usually get flustered by the crowd but today (yesterday) I took it as motivation because something that my brother usually tells me pressure is privilege.”

Areki added that she was motivated to push for gold for a better version of herself.

“I wanted to do this for me, this is to say good-bye to my former self because there’s someone new. Who’s going to be coming into competition now that she’s won gold in the Fiji Finals,” she said.

“This is just the very beginning and there’s a long way to go after this.”

Areki also takes part in the discus event, which is set for this morning.

“I just want to do my best, remain humble and tomorrow (today) will deal with itself,” she added.