Tasi Limtiaco swims for FSM at Olympics

FSM swimmer Tasi Limtiaco grew up on Guam and attended college in Japan. His dad is from Guam and his mom is from the FSM. He was born in the Federated States of Micronesia and chose to swim for the FSM at the Olympic Games.

Limtiaco said, "For me personally being born back there. Of course I was raised on Guam and I did have to choose. I was raised with an FSM passport and I've never held a US passport so we just kind of stuck with that. And also my mom wanted me to represent FSM so she kind of influenced me on that and my dad agreed with her. So we just kind of stuck with it and it all worked out for the best."

Tasi competed in Heat 1 of the Men's  200m Medley finishing with a time of 2:07.69.

Limtiaco said, "The result was definitely a lot better than I expected just because the Coronavirus pandemic. We haven't had any competitions and I think leading up to this event I didn't have as much race experience as I would've wanted. Because the previous year we only had one competition. When you race you kind of figure out how to pace yourself and what time to go out with. So you're not going out too fast and you have enough for the back end. But overall I was pretty happy with it."

He moved to Thailand in 2019 training under Head Coach Miguel Lopez and Assistant Coach Alexander Takano. Tasi has represented the FSM in Papua New Guinea, China, Russia and Korea.

Limtiaco said, "With no spectators in the stands I thought it was going to be empty and really quiet. We wouldn't have that pumping atmosphere but it was still there. There was still so many people in the stands. Other athletes coming to watch and they filled it up pretty well."

His goal is to help draw interest to the sport and help other FSM athletes to one day represent their country in the Olympics.

Limtiaco said, "The Olympic Games Village was amazing. I couldn't leave the village just for safety reasons. Just walking around and interacting with all sorts of different athletes and seeing the best athletes from around the world was breathtaking actually."

Tasi is under a scholarship with FINA with 13 other athletes from across the nation. He's looking forward to the Abu Dhabi World Championships in December. Limtiaco is back to training in Thailand with the support of the FSM.

Limtiaco said, "Countries that don't have as many resources such as the Solomon Islands which don't have a swimming pool or the FSM which is limited to a 25m pool. They bring them here under the supervision and they give them the proper training facilities that we need. Here we have a 50m pool and a 25 meter pool as well as really good gyms. And also the instructors and the physiotherapist. It just gives us the best shot to perform at our peak potential."