3 minute read

Papua New Guinea swimmer Josh Tarere hopes he's inspired children at home to take up the sport by racing at the Paris Olympics.

Like most kids in Papua New Guinea, Josh Tarere loved rugby.

But his dad didn't want him to play, instead putting him in swimming lessons.

That decision ultimately led Tarere to the Paris Olympics pool, where he raced in the men's 100m freestyle on Tuesday morning.

The 24-year-old won his heat in a personal best time of 53.85 seconds, bettering his previous benchmark of 54.11.

But Tarere hopes that's not the only win from his swim.

"If I can inspire one kid or maybe two back at home to swim, I'm happy with that," he told AAP.

Tarere's time was ranked 72nd of the 79 swimmers contesting the heats - he was some 6.2 seconds behind the fastest through the preliminaries, American Jack Alexy.

But just making it to the Olympics was a victory.

Tarere's father Robin and elder brother Rodriguez played rugby union for the PNG Pukpuks.

Dad Robin has also coached PNG's senior team and also under 19s at world junior championships.

He is currently the development officer for the apt acronym SCRUM - the Supporters Club Rygby Union Morobe.

"I love playing rugby," Josh Tarere said.

"But my dad doesn't want me to play rugby. So he put me into swimming and I started falling in love with swimming.

"But swimming is not a big sport in PNG."

Tarere is based at the Lae amateur swim club in Lae, the capital of Morobe Province and the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea behind Port Moresby.

Tarere earnt a spot at the Olympics through a universality placing, a system designed to boost the diversity of participating nations across the sports program.

His Olympic debut followed a first appearance on the global swim stage at last year's world championships in Japan.

After those titles, the sport's governing body World Aquatics gave Tarere a 12-month scholarship to train in Thailand which expires in September.