Petero James Moeava Okotai (born 3 August 1981) is a

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. He grew up in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

where he began swimming at the age of 5, then stopped upon returning to the Cook Islands at the age of 11, due to the absence of a pool. He resumed swimming in 2006, while studying for an honours degree in business management at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

, in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

,"Tropical idyll far from ideal when swimming for gold"
''The Age'', 25 March 2007 which he completed in 2010. He competed in the 50 metre freestyle event at the

2007 World Aquatics Championships The 2007 World Aquatics Championships, or the XII FINA World Championships, were held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 March to 1 April 2007. The competition took place at three locations in central Melbourne: the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic C ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and finished 157th out of 175, with a time of 29.54. He represented his country at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, competing in the men's 100 metre breaststroke event. With no Olympic-sized pool to train in, Okotai initially practiced by swimming in a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

, where he had to "deal with the hazards of trigger fish, coral heads and ocean currents". He later trained in the Muri Beach Club Hotel pool on

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 10,898 of a total population of 15,040. The Parliament of the Cook Islands, Coo ...

. The pool measured 17 metres, and Okotai had to swim among tourists."Games also mean coming in last"
''International Herald Tribune'', 23 August 2008 He finished third and last in heat 1, his time of 1:20.20 the slowest of all competitors who finished the race, and almost eight seconds slower than second-slowest Mohammed Al-Habsi, of

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

."Olympics-Swimming-Men's 100m breaststroke heats results"
Reuters, 9 August 2008 This prompted Okotai to comment: "I hope I'm not Eric the Eel."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okotai, Petero 1981 births Male breaststroke swimmers Living people Olympic swimmers for the Cook Islands Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics University of Auckland alumni Cook Island male swimmers 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen