By Eleanor Gee

Irene Prescott (22) looks at how far she has come to get to the Rio Olympics and sees her efforts not as sacrifice but as a leadership role.

“To me it is not really a sacrifice but a way of life and I hope to inspire all the young people in Tonga to choose a healthy lifestyle and strive to reach their personal goals.”   

Irene will swim for Tonga in the 50m freestyle event on Saturday 13 August 2016 (NZ time).

“I am definitely more than excited to go to the Olympics in Rio. Competing in the Olympics has been a dream of mine since I was 6 years old as the 2000 Olympics was held in Australia that year,” she said.

“My goal is to get the first Olympic gold medal for Tonga, whether it’s at this Olympics in Rio or the next one in Japan 2020.”

Her rigid training regime leading up to the Olympics consisted of her woking out every morning and afternoon. This included swimming three days per week for two and a half hours, attending swimming racing technique program two days per week and going to the gym every day for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.

Her coach, her sister, Sarah Prescott, put her on a strict dietary plan which helped her lose 10kg and build strong lean muscles.

Melbourne

Irene was born in Australia and is based in Melbourne. Her family in Tonga are from Sopu, Kolomotu’a. She went to school in Australia attending Nunawading Primary School, Mullauna Secondary College and completed a Diploma of Sport Development and Fitness III & VI at the Box Hill Institute of Tafe in Melbourne, Victoria.

She started swimming at the age of two years and started swimming seriously at the age of 10 years.

Irene has represented Tonga over the years at the Commonwealth Youth Games (Isle of Man, England), Pacific Games (Cook Islands and New Caledonia), the World Championships (Russia, Spain and Doha), Oceania Championships (New Caledonia, Auckland and Fiji) and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Funding

Her parents have funded her training for the past seven years costing around AUD$15,000 per year. Expenses include squad swimming, coaching, gym membership, swimming competitions and equipment.

“In addition, to enable me to represent Tonga, my parents have had to pay upfront so that my coach and I can attend [international] championships.”

As a young female travelling and competing around the world, her coach accompanies her for safety and for support.

“To get to the Olympics my parents have paid for myself and my coach upfront. We will get some compensation for myself from FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) but not for my coach.”

Even if she did not get any funding, she feels it is very important for her to keep going with the help of her parents so that she can represent Tonga.

“This year I was successful when I applied for a Olympic Scholarship from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) but the funding has been delayed and I only received help for the first month,” she said.

“It takes many years, 10 years + for athletes to become elite athletes so that is why my parents are continuing to support me to represent Tonga so I can reach my full potential and become the best I can be for our Kingdom.”

Irene is very close to her family and says they are all into sports and share many hobbies.

“We all swim, play tennis, scuba dive, compete in athletics and even train in the gym together.”

Swimming is one of the most popular spectator sports at the Games.