Asenate Manoa

Asenate Manoa (born May 23 1992) [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/tuv/asenate+manoa/8002627 Yahoo Sports] , Retrieved on August 7 2008] is a Tuvaluan athlete who represented Tuvalu at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She was the first runner and first female representative of Tuvalu at the Olympic Games. [ [http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200807/s2306736.htm?tab=sport "Manoa makes Olympic history for tiny Tuvalu"] , ABC Radio Australia, July 17, 2008, Retrieved on August 7 2008]

After initially training on the runway of Funafuti International Airport [ [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/24/games_for_all_as_britain_shine.html "Games for all as Britain shines"] , "The Guardian", August 24, 2008] , Manoa trained in Suva, Fiji in preparation for the games. She was mentored by members of Fiji’s track team, and worked at the offices of the regional Olympic administrator, ONOC. She had never used starting blocks or run on a synthetic track before arriving in Beijing. [ [http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200808/s2334331.htm?tab=sport "Tuvalu sprinter prepares for Olympic heats"] , ABC Radio Australia, August 9, 2008] Slight of figure, she weighs 101lbs (46kg).

She competed in the 100m sprint. Her time of 14.05 was the slowest in her heat, but was a Tuvaluan national record. [ [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/24/games_for_all_as_britain_shine.html "Games for all as Britain shines"] , "The Guardian", August 24, 2008]

"The Guardian" described her as "impossibly tiny for an international sprinter", and noted that, in the Beijing National Stadium, she was "running in front of an audience 10 times the size of her country's population". [ [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/24/games_for_all_as_britain_shine.html "Games for all as Britain shines"] , "The Guardian", August 24, 2008]

References

* [http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/7/8002627.shtml Biography] on the official website of the Beijing Olympics