Fiji skier ‘not a tourist’
NZPA-AAP Calgary Fiji’s one-man team at the Calgary Winter Olympics was not a “sports tourist,” although having no chance of winning a medal or even placing highly. The team manager, Robin Mitchell,' whose team comprises the cross country skier, Rusiate Rogoyawa, said his country’s decision to have a team at the Games was not one made lightly.
Rogoyawa has only been ski-ing for the last five years since moving to Oslo, Norway, where he is a student of electrical engineering. Of the five years he has spent on skis only three have been competitive.
“We were worried we would be thought of as sports tourists — there just for the ride,” Mitchell said.
“Before we entered Rusiate we made sure he
could perform to a standard worthy of an Olympic Games and we are confident he will. “By that I don’t mean winning a medal but performing with credit,” he said. Rogoyawa would be racing today in the men’s 15-kilometre cross country event on a course which has been described as the most demanding Olympic course in recent times.
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Press, 20 February 1988, Page 31
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183Fiji skier ‘not a tourist’ Press, 20 February 1988, Page 31
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