IN 1996, 18-year-old Jovesa Naivalu rewrote the California State 110m hurdles record for the third time in a span of three months.
The former national hurdler and USA 7s player Jovesa Naivalu is in Nadi where he coaches the West-based national athletes and is a teacher at Nadi International School.
“That was the final,” recalled Naivalu.
“The atmosphere of stadium with a crowd of more than 60,000 was intense. I was nervous.
“Was I scared? Of course, I was scared. Seeing such a large crowd could make anyone weak at the knees.
“As an 18-year-old, the crowd itself is scary. All I was thinking was of what my mum and dad told me when I first got a scholarship to the United States.
“I did not want to lose. It was my last year in high school and I needed to finish in a good spot and make an impression.”
Naivalu said he was running alongside some of America’s best athletes and they made him feel nervous.
“I had thought of my opponents and in my field was the runner who had the fastest time on that track. Then they started calling out the names of the athletes to introduce them to the crowd.
“As they called out my name, I could feel myself gaining confidence. Then I remember the starter gun. For the first five seconds we were in a bunch and then the faster ones broke slightly ahead.
“I faltered at the last hurdle when my knee hit it. I finished three hundredth of a second slower than the person in first place.”
Naivalu ran the 110m hurdles in 12.68 seconds and made the qualifying time for the Atlanta Olympics. Despite coming second, he managed to shave time off the California State record.
After that performance, loads of scholarship offers began pouring in for the athlete. He chose to join the college chosen by Athletics Fiji so he could join the Fiji team for the Olympic Games.
At the age of 18, Naivalu represented Fiji in the 110m hurdle and 4x100m relay at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
