Tonga’s first female Olympic swimmer, Irene Prescott, counts her experience in Rio as invaluable saying “it was an extreme challenge and nerve racking to race with the best swimmers in the world”.

With all the nerves however, Irene is thrilled she swam the 50m freestyle in a personal best time of 28:68, finishing 5^th in her heat and ranking 61 out of the 91 top swimmers.

Competing at a world class event has inspired her to continue on her journey to improve her swimming form and compete in future world swimming events.

Her coach, Sarah Prescott, who is also Irene’s sister, says she was excited and inspired to witness a young Tongan female compete against the very best athletes in the world.

“This experience has built up her confidence to be able to focus on the job without being distracted by all the buzz and noise of the crowd and other competitors.”

“Irene looks forward to working even harder and selecting her best stroke as she still has butterfly, backstroke and The individual Medley in her repertoire.”

She encourages all the young people of Tonga to be inspired to take part in any sports they enjoy.