Family support is what drives Team American Samoa’s Micah Masei to excel in every competition.
Masei’s family has been his biggest supporters since he started swimming competitively at 10 years old.
His sister traveled from the US and was in the stands when the 25-year-old swimmer clocked a time of 1:05.95 in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke Preliminary Round/Heats at Paris La Defense Arena.
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 is his second Olympics; he made his Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
“The crowd made it so much different here than in Tokyo,” Masei said.
“I always like to look up to the crowd before my race because it hypes me up.
“I have a very supportive family; my mum and dad are very supportive of me day in and day out.
“The coaches have also helped and pushed me to keep going,”he said.
Masei hopes that his Olympic journey will inspire and motivate more swimmers in American Samoa to swim competitively.
“The swim community in American Samoa is very small.
“People like to swim back home, but mostly for leisure or in the ocean—not in a pool setting where you push yourself. “I hope that they will follow in my footsteps and know that it is possible to represent your country on this big stage,” Masei added.