Olympic Hopeful

Sixteen-year-old Cook Islands swimmer Celeste Brown lined up with some of the worlds top swimmers at the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai last month.

The Australian based swimmer was joined by fellow Cook Islands swimmer Tepaia Payne who lives and trains in Brunei and Auckland based ocean swimmer Hayden Vickers.

The pair were accompanied to the world championships by Cook Islands Aquatics Federation president Romani Katoa who was proud of the duos performance.

Brown and Payne competed in the open 50m and 100m freestyle race and although the youngsters didnt break any records or win a medal the experience will help them build up to their main goal of qualifying and representing the Cook Islands at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Swimming is no longer part of Team Cook Islands to represent the country in New Caledonia later this month as Brown doesnt meet the residency clause of the athletes eligibility criteria and Payne will represent the Cooks at the Commonwealth Youth Games to be hosted by the Isle of Man at the same time as the Pacific Games in New Caledonia.

Katoa has high hopes for all three swimmers and looks forward to more Cook Islanders taking up the sport of swimming. - MW