Athletics: Flight relief for celebrity athlete

Shaka Sola

Celebrity Samoan thrower Shaka Sola is guaranteed mere mortal status at this Commonwealth Games by simply arriving in Melbourne.

The Wellington-based former taxi driver adorned front pages and news bulletins around the globe during August's world track and field championships in Finland after missing his flight, arriving too late for his specialist discus and shot put, then finishing a long last in a token appearance in the javelin.

In his first major competition since, a beaming Sola strode through Melbourne Airport a day before his 29th birthday with guitar slung over his shoulder, expecting a semi-normal experience this time.

Last August he was in despair, stranded on the island of Palau after the South Pacific Games when his teammate mistook their flight time and they missed the plane. The next flight didn't depart for three days.

After a marathon trip they touched down in Helsinki too late for the shot put and discus qualifying rounds, and faced a €1000 ($1860) fine for entering and not competing.

"It was either the javelin or 100m and I didn't fancy the 100m too much," he said.

"Then the day before the javelin I was trying to do a decent throw and I stuffed my knee, so I could only manage a two-step run-up."

Before a roaring crowd of 48,000, Sola shuffled in and threw 41m in the best of his two attempts.

"Javelin is one of the biggest events in Finland and it was amazing."

He chuckled that the next day, in one of the major Finnish newspapers, his story was given more prominence than the world record pole vault from Russian glamour girl Yelena Isinbayeva.

"Everywhere I went in Finland after that, I was getting free stuff. I started getting e-mails from everywhere and my wife saw it on TV and rang and said 'what have you done?'

"I didn't mind it. It took that trip for me to let loose and have fun. I was thinking of chucking it all in."

This time Sola has almost a week to prepare for the shot put starting on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where his wife Bronwen will be on hand to support.

Sola hopes for a distinct lack of drama this time. His targets are throwing personal bests, and making the finals.

- NZPA