Talk:Hellen Saohaga's London performance second best for Solomon Islands at Olympics, Paralympics

Paul Bird comment
Paul Bird said yesterday that Pacific Islanders, especially those from Melenesia, do not talk to strangers and are reserved around them. --LauraHale (talk) 18:53, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

Solomon Island Press person
Met with her today. Spent a good two hours talking with her. She talked about what she had written and gotten published in the Solomon Islands Star, the national newspaper, her ambitions for the future, her role on the team, etc. This was not set up as an interview on purpose with the press person.

According to her, there were some issues with the team (athlete and officials) not potentially wanting to walk in the opening ceremonies. She said that Hellen's performance was the second best performance by a Solomon Islander competitor ever at the Olympics and Paralympics. The only one better than her was Jenly Tegu Wini, who finished 12th. She knows Jenly Tegu Wini. Er. The Press attache knows Wini.

According to the Press attache, Hellen was eager to get out to train and they had to get the coach moving ahead of schedule because of Hellen's enthusiasm. While at one training session, Hellen was on the practice field while Oscar was also training and Hellen had her picture taken with Oscar Pistrious.

While at school, Hellen was discriminated against as teachers did not want to deal with some one with disabilities and would routinely ignore children with them. When Hellen gets back to the Solomons, she wants to go to schools and talk to youngster about getting involved with sports given her own experiences. She qualified for London as a wild card entry. Hellen and those around her believe she has what it takes to get to Rio. The press attache believes that Hellen's performance demonstrates that with additional training and improved coaching, she could potentially earn her spot to Rio as a non-wildcard.--LauraHale (talk) 18:53, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

Press release
Subject: Oceania Paralympic Committee Media Release Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2012 17:37:47 +0100 From: Andrew Bynon To:

Please find attached and below a media release from the Oceania Paralympic Committee.

-- Andrew Bynon Secretary-General Vanuatu Paralympic Committee www.vanuatuparalympic.sportingpulse.net | Follow us on www.facebook.com/vanuatuparalympic | www.twitter.com/VANParalympics


 * OCEANIA PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE MEDIA RELEASE*


 * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*


 * SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8 2012***




 * LONDON 2012 COMES TO CLOSE FOR OCEANIA PARALYMPIANS*

The final events for the London 2012 Paralympics for athletes from the Oceania nations of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu were held this morning.

Marcel Houssimoli, from Vanuatu, who started the campaign by running a personal best in the 200m, was one of the two athletes competing today. He finished the same way he started, taking almost one second off his personal best in the T37 100m.

Coach, Tony Naliupis, said he couldn’t be happier with Houssimoli’s performance at the Paralympics.

“Every time he ran, he ran a personal best."

Hellen Saohaga from the Solomon Islands was the final competitor for these Oceania nations in the F57/58 shotput. This was Saohaga’s first time competing at the Paralympics and she continued the amazing performance of the Oceania nations by breaking the 5m mark in the shotput for the first time.

London 2012 was the most successful Paralympics for the Oceania nations of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, with every athlete performing at their best.

The outstanding efforts of the athletes saw Papua New Guinean and ni-Vanuatu athletes compete in finals on the track, and were topped off by the gold winning jump of Iliesa Delana from Fiji in the F42 high jump.

Delana’s gold medal was the first won by any Oceania Nation other than Australia or New Zealand in the Paralympics.

Paul Bird, President of the Oceania Paralympic Committee, said that the success of these Oceania nations came from their shared approach.

“I think that the results achieved by other Pacific athletes in London, reflect a wonderful co-operative approach and a desire to learn and be successful,” said Mr Bird. “With the right support, I am sure we will see increasing success from the Paralympic athletes of the Pacific.”


 * -Ends-*

For more information on this media release contact:

Andrew Bynon

SAOHAGA Hellen Glenda
SAOHAGA Hellen Glenda Related Participant News Profile Date of Birth: 12 DEC 1987 Gender: Female Place of Birth: HONIARA, Solomon Islands Residence: - Sport: Athletics Event(s): Women's Shot Put - F57/58 Class: F57 Final Rank: 15 Participant's Portrait HISTORICAL RESULTS Competition Highlights [Explanation of Competition Highlights (click to open/close)] GENERAL INTEREST Coach: Faamoana Topule (walesonline.co.uk, 23 Aug 2012) Additional Information: DisabilityClass F58

SCHEDULE AND RESULTS AT LONDON 2012 Date Time Sport Event Location Result Start List Results Reports SAT 08 10:03 AT Women's Shot Put - F57/58 Final Olympic Stadium 15 Start List Results Reports

Title and detail request
The title on this one could do with being about 15-20 characters shorter.

Since it is a fairly short article, and I think it needs quite a bit of layout work, I'll be dropping the infobox altogether whilst I try and improve the look and flow of the wording. --Brian McNeil / talk 06:23, 9 September 2012 (UTC)

The people she finished ahead of in competition: Were they all wildcards too, or did she beat anyone who qualified on the basis of performance? If the latter, that's a newsworthy snippet of information to include. --Brian McNeil / talk 06:56, 9 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Question


 * Not sure if they were all wild card invites. That she did not finish last means she was competitive and suggests it is worth continuing at the sport.  I also wanted to put more names into the story, and highlight that she was a wild card.  Not sure how to change the name. --LauraHale (talk) 08:33, 9 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Can trivially save ten characters (less than requested savings, though):
 * Hellen Saohaga's London performance ranks second best for Solomon Islands at Olympics and Paralympics
 * --Pi zero (talk) 17:20, 9 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks to that suggestion, I managed to cull 19 characters. :D --Brian McNeil / talk 19:51, 9 September 2012 (UTC)

Review of revision 1618657 [Not ready]

 * Ug. As they have had few competitors in their history, I can run through them with sources. Entirely possible that bit wrong.


 * 17th
 * did not advance out of prelioms
 * eliminated when 32 competitors there
 * 6th in prelims and did not advance
 * Wendy hale is 12th.

AH! Okay. Yeah. I got the wrong name. :( That was the next best one. That's hugely embarrassing. --LauraHale (talk) 05:26, 10 September 2012 (UTC)