Micah Masei placed third in his heat in the preliminary round of the 100 mens breaststroke in the Paris Olympics with a time of 1:05.95, which put him in 34th place out of 35 swimmers who competed.
Erika Radewagen of the American Samoa Swimming Association praised Micah’s representation of American Samoa at the Olympics.
This was the second Olympics for Micah, and he hopes his Olympic journey will inspire more swimmers in American Samoa to swim competitively.
The 25-year-old told Pacnews, his family has been his biggest supporter since he started swimming competitively at 10 years old. His sister traveled from the US and was in the stands for his swim in Paris.
He said the crowd made it so much different in Paris than in Tokyo.
“I always like to look up to the crowd before my race because it hypes me up,” he said.
“I have a very supportive family, my mum and dad are very supportive of me day in and day out.
“The coaches have also helped and pushed me to keep going.”
Masei observed that the swim community in American Samoa is very small. “People like to swim back home, but mostly for leisure or in the ocean. Not in a pool setting where you push yourself. I hope that they will follow in my footsteps and know that it is possible to represent your country on this big stage.”
