Tatiana Kaumoana | Sport

My name is Tatiana Kaumoana, I am 19 years old and I am a discus thrower. I have played a wide range of sports over the past 14 years, but at the age of 10, I found the sport I knew I would always love – Athletics. At the young age of 9, I was finally old enough to compete in my Primary School Athletics Championships day, I won both the shot put and discus events, which I had never tried properly before. It was a very exciting day for myself and my parents and was also the day that the spark that has continually grown brighter inside me, became alight. We saw the potential that I could have if I were to continue training, which we did. Dad was my coach for the next 2 years, by watching YouTube videos to teach himself, to then be able to teach me. I competed in my first ‘big’ competition, which was the North Island Colgate Games, in Hastings in 2011, where I managed to win both the discus and shot put events, and ever since then I have never looked back. I have since won multiple National Discus titles in the Junior and Senior Girls Secondary Schools discus competitions, as well as U18 and U20 NZ Women’s discus titles.
I made my first New Zealand team in 2017 where I was selected for the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Bahamas, where I placed 2nd. This year I was selected for the New Zealand Oceania Athletics team in Townsville, Australia, where I won Gold in the U20 Women’s discus and 4th in the Open Women’s discus and was selected for my biggest international competition yet, the World University Games in Naples, Italy.
I am a dedicated, self-motivated and hard-working person, who will always give 100% to everything that I do. My Whanau are my greatest motivation and the most important part of my life – they have helped shape me into the person I am today, and I will always do everything I can to make them proud. My dream goal is to proudly represent my family and country at the Olympic Games, where I aim to win a Gold medal in the Women’s Discus.