KEY POINTS:
He'll be a contender for the athlete with the most exotic name in Beijing, and Orinoco Faamausili-Banse-Prince is hoping to make a splash in another way.
The Mt Albert Grammar seventh former turns 18 next Wednesday, but studies are likely to take a back seat for the next
few weeks as he makes his Olympic debut as part of the 4 x 100m freestyle relay quartet.
The Oceania 50m recordholder will take impressive form to China, arriving there shortly as a world junior champion, and with a national 50m record in his back pocket. And his mother, Alosina, will be watching in Beijing, courtesy of some rapid fundraising efforts inspired by her New Lynn kindergarten community, where she's a teacher.
Faamausili-Banse-Prince won the freestyle sprint crown at the world junior championships in Mexico one and a half weeks ago, clocking a New Zealand record 22.37s.
"I'm feeling really good about how that meet went," he said yesterday. "The Olympics is different but all the signs are that I'm doing well."
When the Games-confirming time of 3m 17.45s was achieved at the Olympic trials in March, he reckoned it may have raised the coaches' eyebrows.
"I knew we'd gone quick and they expected us to go 3m 18s. I had no idea how the rest of the world was going. We just tried to stay positive."
Faamausili-Banse-Prince - he gets the first two names from his mother, Prince from his father John - admitted keeping his mind on the studies had not been easy "but school has been really good about it".
He hopes to pass his exams this year, then maybe spend 2009 doing a Bible studies course while he eyes his career options.
There are no particular role models, but as befitting a sprinter "the swimmers I think are pretty cool are because of how fast they swim". His mother first put her son in the water when he was two weeks old - "so he got the breathing down pat".
Alosina is chuffed to be on her way to Beijing, after managing to raise the several thousand dollars that was needed. "Essentially it was my kindergarten community that got behind me and said, 'We'll make the cakes'," she said.
Few swimmers of Pacific Island heritage have reached the top echelon in New Zealand. "I don't know why there aren't more because I'm sure they have the ability," Alosina said yesterday, as she glanced to her right for proof of that.