Austin shows off her medals

WHEN British Airways flight number 065 landed at the Seychelles International Airport at Pointe Larue on Saturday afternoon (October 18), it had on board the second contingent of Seychellois athletes who participated in the Eighth All-Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria.

As the female volleyballers and male swimmers descended from the plane, they were presented with a nice bouquet of flowers as Ms Sylvette Pool, Minister for Local Government, Sports and Culture (MLGSC), her principal secretary Mr Patrick Nanty, and other officials of the MLGSC and the National Sports Council, welcomed them back home.

A warmer welcome was reserved for young female swimmer Shrone Austin, the first Seychellois to win more than one silver medal in an edition of the Games.

In fact, Austin, 14, claimed three silver medals in the 1,500-metre freestyle, 800-metre freestyle and 400-metre individual medley as well as a bronze in the 400-metre freestyle in the aquatic centre of Abuja .

Austin's performances in the pool helped her to improve five Seychelles records in the 200-metre breaststroke, 400-metre individual medley, 400-metre, 800-metre and 1,500-metre freestyle.

For five days Austin was in a league of her own with the three silver medals but another female athlete, weightlifter Janet Thélermont who is also the reigning Sportslady of the Year, matched her achievement with three medals of the silver hue of her own in the clean and jerk, snatch and Olympic total of the 69-kg category.

"The competition was pretty tight. When I left Mahe, I wasn't expecting to win any medal, the same as when I left for the Indian Ocean Islands Games. When I won my first silver medal, it gave me the courage to win more and do much better. I did my best and I am happy I achieved what I predicted. I am going to keep training hard to win a gold at the next Games", Austin told Sports Nation upon her return

When asked how it felt to become the first Seychellois to win three silver medals at the All-Africa Games, Austin, who had made friends with the female volleyballers as they joked and exchanged phone numbers while waiting for their luggage, replied:

"It was a great feeling. I felt like I was the happiest person in the world when I won my medals. I'm just happy I did it."

If Austin made wonders in the pool, the country's women's volleyball team missed out on reaching the semifinals for a second consecutive time.

Like in 1999 in Johannesburg, South Africa, captain Jerina Bonne and company finished third in their group and out of the medals rankings.

With only one win over Ghana on a 3-0 (25-12 26-24 25-23) score and two defeats 0-3 (21-51 25-27 24-26) to Cameroon and 0-3 (23-25, 19-25, 21-25) to hosts Nigeria, the women's team finished third in group A with four points behind pool leaders Nigeria and Cameroon.

Assistant coach Nichol Lesperance, who filled in for Maurice Denys who did not make the trip, said that he was satisfied with his players' performance taking into account that some of them were carrying injuries.

"We played well but the finishing touch was not too good and it cost us some close matches. On the whole, I am satisfied with the way they played," he said.

As for captain Bonne, she noted that their opponents were much quicker in their plays and this caused the local team a lot of problems.

"We need to train harder. Cameroon and Nigeria have made a lot of progress over the years, while our game has somehow stagnated. We are very good technically but this alone isn't enough at this level," said Bonne.

It is to note that both the Seychelles team and opponents Algeria were not present for Saturday's fifth-place play-off match in Abuja as they had already left the country.

G. G.