Tupou Neiufi prepares to defend swimming gold at Paralympics

While the Olympics are well underway, para-athletes are gearing up for next month's Paralympics.

Tongan-Kiwi swimming champion Tupou Neiufi will be competing in the 50m Freestyle S8 and defending her gold medal from the last Olympics in Tokyo, where she won in the Women's 100 metre S8 backstroke.

This will be the third Olympic games for Māngere-born Neiufi, who says she’s proud to represent New Zealand and her Tongan heritage.

“I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and ask ‘Oh, are you from Brazil?’ or ‘are you from all these different countries?’. I’m like, ‘No, MMT baby!’.

“So it’s really cool getting to travel around the world and be able to share my culture and put us on the world stage.”

Speaking to Ma’a Brian Sagala on Pacific Days, Neiufi said she brings more experience and maturity this time.

“Because I’m older now, it’s been eight years since my first Paralympics at Rio. So, going from 15 and 23 now, I guess this time around I’m more happy to be there, go in there, do some fast racing and just have some fun.”

Neiufi was hit by a speeding car when she was a toddler, causing traumatic brain injury and hemiplegia, a form of paralysis along the left side of her body. She wasn’t able to follow her mother’s netball sports achievements, but diverted into swimming around the age of nine.

“My physio had suggested swimming, because swimming would help me use both sides of my body and I guess just use it as a form of rehab, so I pretty much just went from there.”

Swimming NZ CEO Steve Johns said Tupou is an asset to the team.

“We’re delighted to be able to add Tupou to our Para swimming team. She is an experienced athlete who deserves her place on the Paris 2024 team, and we can’t wait to see her in action in a month, along with her five teammates”

Neiufi will depart for Paris in two weeks and is training in the pool every day, along with up to two gym sessions every day. She admitted still feeling the impact of the summer off-season.

“A pattern I’ve started to notice is that every year, between the first half of the year and going into whatever pinnacle event it is, I tend to have to keep playing the catch-up game and that’s all because of the island season, where you have the feast going during Christmas and New Year, putting on a few kgs and putting on a bit of weight.”

Paralympics New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Greg Warnecke they are ecstatic to have Neiufi in the team.

“She is an experienced Paralympian who has continued to excel on the international stage. Her presence is a huge boost for the Team and we look forward to seeing how she performs in the pool in Paris.”

Future plans

Since the last Paralympics, Neiufi has added more medals to her cabinet, taking silver at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022 and bronze at the World Para Swimming Championships last year.

Neiufi is focused on the upcoming games, but won’t say yet if this will be her last appearance at the Paralympics.

“I don’t know. It’s a bit tiring trying to avoid having these island foods, lu, and restricting myself to having it at certain times of the year.

“It’s getting a bit tiring now, but I’ll just see how I go. I might even have a little peek at some other sports.

“But yeah, at the moment, I’m just focusing on swimming for now.”

The Paralympic Games women’s heats will be held from the 29th of August at Paris La Defense Arena.

Watch the full interview on Pacific Days with Tupou Neiufi: