Rosena chooses family over Sydney Olympics
Rosena chooses family over Sydney Olympics
SURABAYA (JP): Most athletes in the world dream of competing
in the Olympic Games. But not so with Indonesian women's archer
Rosena Gelanteh, who prefers to live a happy life with her family
and concentrate on her job rather than the Olympics.
Due to her past achievements in the sport, Rosena was invited
by the Indonesian Archery Association to join the 2000 Olympic
training program in Jakarta early this year, along with Hamdiah,
Lusia Elizabeth Sumampouw and Purnama Pandiangan.
She turned down the offer, however, saying she had to take
care of her 57-year-old mother who is battling cancer.
"It's hard for me to join the national team again. I don't
want to leave my family and my job. It doesn't mean that I'm not
a nationalist. I love this country, but I had a difficult
choice," she said.
"If I train again, I have to bring my daughter with me, but
then I can't focus on training. If my daughter is not with me, it
will be even worse," said Rosena, who is a human resources
official at state Bank Jabar in Bandung.
Rosena left the archery range in 1995 to become a full-time
mother. "I wanted to take a rest. I wanted to have more
children," said Rosena, who is married to Wahyudi Kiswoyo. The
couple have one child, two-and-a-half-year-old Valentina Ratri
Kiswoyo.
Despite her long absence from archery, Rosena managed to win
gold in the women's individual 60m FITA round and silver in the
70m and 50m target events at the 15th National Games (PON) at the
KONI archery range here on Tuesday.
"I was back training for only three months before competing
here. I got a dispensation from my office, but my boss said at
that time that I had to win gold for West Java," she said, adding
that her supervisor promised her a bonus if she earned a medal in
the competition.
"I was very surprised to find out that I was able to do well
in the competition. I told myself that I'm not here to challenge
anyone to prove that I still exist despite my absence from
competition over the past few years."
Born in Muara Teweh, Central Kalimantan, on March 6, 1968,
Rosena learned archery from her father Gudem Herman in 1987.
Herman last competed in the 1989 PON in Jakarta.
Rosena is the record holder in the national round of the
women's individual 50m with a score of 294, which she achieved in
1989. She set the record for total score with a 924 in 1993.
In the Olympic version of FITA's round, Rosena holds the
national record of 611 in the women's individual 72 arrow event,
an achievement she reached in 1994. Purnama scored a 109 to set
the record in the individual 12 arrow event in 1996.
Kusumawardani set the record of 160 in the individual 18 arrow
event in 1996.
In the FITA round, the Indonesian team of Purnama, Rosena and
Nurfitriyana Lantang hold the national record of 3,870, which
they achieved in 1991. (ivy)