1. A moment during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games 2. Yuri and her brother as flag bearers for Palau at the closing ceremony 3. Night drive with friends from Sophia Swimming Club 4. In Palau28SOPHIA MAGAZINE Vol. 191234Student“I remember shaking on the diving block at the start,” Yuri recalls, reflecting on being both nervous and excited while competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. “The race was so quick. It didn’t feel real.” She achieved a new personal best in the 50-meter free-style competition.She began swimming when she was eight years old and the Olympics was always her dream. “Palau is surrounded by the ocean, so kids naturally start swimming.” After competitive training for five or six years, Yuri earned a spot to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, representing Palau along with her brother Jion.Yuri enjoyed many experiences unique to the Olympics. One in-credible example was sharing a warm-up pool with some of the world’s top swimmers. “In every lane, there were swimmers I had only ever seen on Instagram. I was warming up in the same lane as French gold medalist Léon Marchand. My brother and I were speechless.” “Another personal surprise for me was how the Olympics take care of athletes 100%. It was amazing,” she says. She was given all the essentials for her stay in Paris, including a cell phone with the Olympics logo. The Olympic Village facilities also impressed her. “Going from the World Championship to the Olympics felt like a huge jump.”But the most memorable experience of all was being with athletes from Oceania, including from the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Fiji, Tonga and other Polynesian states. We developed a strong sense of community. Having previously met some of the Oceanian swimmers at other competitions, it felt like a reunion. In the two weeks leading up to the Olympics, the swimmers trained at a camp in Devon, in southern France. During the Olympics, all the athletes from Oceania — except for Australia and New Zealand — stayed together in the Olympic Village where they proudly displayed their nations’ flags. While waiting in the call room before her event, Yuri felt a deep sense of camaraderie with her fellow Oceanian swimmers. “The call room was very memorable for me,” she relates. “We were all encouraging each other. It felt like a big support system.”Though the Oceania region comprises many islands and coun-tries, all participants came together as a family at the Olympics. “I really felt the sense of community and the connection of being with swimmers from my region. I appreciated it when someone mentioned that though we are from different islands, we are all connected by the ocean.”In addition to the support from her fellow Oceanian athletes, Yuri also felt strong encouragement from Sophia’s swim team. “I really believe that a major reason I was able to participate in the Olympics was the team’s support and training together.”Despite the relatively small size of Sophia University’s swim team of 20 swimmers and a manager, the atmosphere is very close-knit. Yuri is in awe of her teammates’ motivation to pursue swimming. After achieving her goal of participating in the Olympics, Yuri often found herself questioning the reason she continues to push herself in the pool.“When I join practices, I realize that everyone is swimming be-cause they enjoy it. I learn from them every day. Seeing them is inspiring for me, and training with them reminds me why I love swimming.”Yuri is also strongly inspired by her fellow SPSF students as she pursues her bachelor’s degree in education. Awarded the Xavier High School International Students Scholarship, offered in conjunction with Sophia University and the Association for Promotion of International Corporation (APIC), Yuri came to Japan in September 2023.“I’ve always loved teaching, especially to little kids,” she says. Her passion for teaching was what led her to choose SPSF over two other programs conducted in English in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and the Faculty of Science and Engineering. “The SPSF
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