Solomon Islands competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, which were held from 26 July to 11 August 2024. The country's participation in Paris marked its eleventh appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1984. The athlete delegation of the country was composed of two people: Sharon Firisua in athletics and Isabella Millar in swimming. The Solomon Islands Athletics Federation also tried to qualify more athletics competitors for the games but they had already missed the deadline for submission. The delegation was supported by a collaboration between the Australian Government and the Australian Olympic Committee, which was made for the development of sport in Pacific nations.
Firisua and Millar qualified for the games after receiving universality slots in their events, which allows underrepresented nations to compete and for a National Olympic Committee (NOC) to send athletes despite not meeting the other qualification criteria. Firisua competed in the women's 100 metres but ran in a time not fast enough to progress into further rounds, though she set a personal best in the event. Millar then competed in the women's 50 metre freestyle and also did not progress further after not finishing with a fast enough time. Thus, Solomon Islands has yet to win an Olympic medal.
Background
The games were held from July 26 to August 11, 2024, in the city of Paris, France.[1] This edition marked the nation's eleventh appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. The nation had never won a medal at the Olympics, with its best performance coming from judoka Tony Lomo placing joint ninth in the men's 60 kg event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom.[2]
The athlete delegation of the nation for the games was composed of two athletes: Sharon Firisua in athletics and Isabella Millar in swimming. The nation was the only athlete delegation to only have female competitors at these games, with all of the other delegations including at least one competitor.[6] Nationally top-ranked boxer Pemberton Lele was set to join the delegation[7] as he qualified for the men's 63.5 kg event through a universality slot, which allows underrepresented nations to compete and for National Olympic Committee (NOC) to send athletes despite not meeting the standard qualification criteria.[8][9] In the lead-up to the games, he participated in the Oceanian Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Honiara, Solomon Islands, but he placed third and failed to qualify through this quota.[10] He aimed to earn the nation's first Olympic gold medal at these games,[11] though withdrew due to logistical errors, with the slot being transferred to John Ume of Papua New Guinea.[12][13]
The delegation was composed of the chef de mission, NOCSI representatives, the athletes, and their coaches. They traveled from Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, on 15 July, then made stops in Brisbane, Dubai, and Geneva, before landing in Paris.[14] The final delegation went to a training camp in Divonne-les-Bains with other Pacific athletes for their preparations for the Games.[15]
As the SIAF missed the deadline, they then contacted the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI), which then contacted the Oceania Athletics Association, who in turn told the NOCSI to contact the Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The NOCSI then asked World Athletics for further confirmation, with the federation confirming that the only eligible athletics competitor for the nation to qualify at the games would be Firisua as they had already missed the deadline for the submission of other competitors.[21] The SIAF then selected Firisua to compete in the women's 100 metres for the games, despite never competing in a distance lower than the 1500 metres,[22] as she was the only active competitor in the database and the women's 100 metres was the only event available with a spot for the nation. NOCSI president Martin Rara additionally commented that the organization had to select Firisua to retain the possibility of universality slots for the nation for succeeding games.[21]
Ambrose, the top-ranked sprinter of the nation who had a faster 100 metres time than Firisua, expressed disappointment for not being selected. She was initially hoping to qualify for the games and represent the nation but threatened to quit the sport after not being chosen, stating, "I will not compete anymore because of what they did."[20] The Australian Broadcasting Corporation later opined that insiders within the NOCSI considered the selection of Firisua as a "farewell gift" given by the committee as Firisua planned to retire from professional sport.[23] Firisua trained in Melbourne, Australia, for her preparations for the games.[24]
Event
The athletics events were held at the Stade de France. Firisua competed in the preliminary rounds of the women's 100 meters on 2 August 2024 at 10:59 a.m., where she raced in the fourth round. She ran a time of 14.31 seconds for a personal best as she had never raced in the 100 metres before.[23][25][22] She placed last out of the nine people in her heat and did not advance further,[26] with her time being the slowest ran by any athlete in any of the preliminary rounds. The eventual winner of the event was Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia, who won with a time of 10.72 and earned Saint Lucia's first Olympic medal.[27]
Solomon Islands was eligible for a universality slot to send a swimmer to the games.[8] The nation selected Isabella Millar, who would compete in the women's 50 metre freestyle and be the first female swimmer to compete for Solomon Islands at an Olympic Games.[2][28]
Based in New South Wales, Australia, Millar trained in a pool near her school. She was coached by Stance Sanga. Millar revealed that her main goal for the games was to beat her personal best of 30.04 seconds set at the 2023 Pacific Games.[14][28][29]
Event
Making her Olympic debut, Millar competed in her event on 3 August at 11:05 a.m., which was held in the Paris La Défense Arena. She competed in the third of the heats and swam in a time of 31.32 seconds. She placed last out of the eight swimmers in her heat, though she finished with a time not fast enough to progress to later rounds, and placed 67th overall. The eventual winner of the event was Sarah Sjöström of Sweden, who swam with a time of 23.71 seconds.[30][31] After her event, Millar thanked her family, friends and supporters for encouraging her.[32]
↑ Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
