I started my sports career when I was 12 at S. Thomas’ College, playing basketball. Then when I was 17, I started playing rugby. When I was 9 years old, my father passed away, and then four years later my mom passed as well. Being around friends and engaging in sports was a way I … Read more

It was in my junior year at school that I joined the cricket team. That same year, my father passed away, and my brother and I soon realized our mother was no longer able to pay the expenses for the game. With cricket out of the picture, one of my friends eventually invited me to … Read more

Sports have always been a big part of my life. I grew up in a traditional Samoan church and went to Sunday School, so I was always aware of God, but faith wasn’t something I thought you lived out. I went to church every Sunday because I was forced to go, but during the week … Read more

My passion was for sport and, like many youngsters, I was so caught up with it that I had little time for working out “the meaning of life.” In my teens, my sports career took off, especially with rugby. I lived for sport and the social life. My family and God were way back in … Read more

Being Fijian, my family and I always went to church and Sunday School. I went, but I didn’t really think about why we were going. My parents never told us the reason we went on Sundays. I believe they thought I would understand from the youth leaders and Sunday School. I started to be noticed … Read more

I’ve had both my ups and downs in sports. In rugby, just as I was about to achieve one of my childhood dreams of representing the Australian Wallabies in the Hong Kong Sevens, I snapped my knee. As a sportsperson, it was a devastating moment to see your dream crushed before you. I guess the … Read more

The decathlon comes down to you versus the clock, or you versus the measuring tape. I’ve seen races where the winner and the loser are decided by a hundredth of a second — the time it takes you to clap your hands, snap or blink an eye. Those things can be the difference between a gold … Read more

I had a very weak faith growing up. It was not until I finished college that I stopped running from God. I had a great deal of success in sports and had a great relationship with my boyfriend, but I still felt like I had climbed the ladder of success only to find out the … Read more

I could have never imagined what God had in store for me at the Olympics — not even in my wildest dreams. But then, He has been fulfilling those dreams all my life… As part of a large, close-knit family, my parents instilled in me a great respect for spiritual things. Both of my parents … Read more

I became a follower of Christ when I was really young — about eight years old — but I wandered away in high school. I just got distracted, and I thought I could take the reigns of my life into my own hands. I made a mess of things and actually realized in the middle … Read more