PNG dear to Williams’ heart

 By HENRY MORABANG

NEW Caledonian swimmer Adeline Williams has a special place in her heart for Papua New Guinea where her mother was born.

Her mother, Andrea Williams nee Meehan was born in Kavieng in New Ireland, before moving to Australia, then migrating to New Caledonia to become a French citizen.

After smashing her own record last night in the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:11.05, Williams said she was happy to swim here as her family has a long history here in Papua New Guinea. 

“And I am happy to be part of this history by swimming in this world class facility to break a Pacific Games records, and I am very proud of it,” she said.

Williams family are Australian but have been working and living in New Caledonia for more than 30 years, and they have become citizens which allows Adeline to represent New Caledonia.

Her uncle Tony Meehan had to travel from Australia to see her swim and win two gold medals. Her first medal was in the 50m breaststroke in a time of 32.61 which is much lower than her Games record of 32.50.

Meehan said he was very happy to see her win which is good news for her family in New Caledonia. “I was very happy to see Meehan win two gold medals at the 2015 Pacific Games,” he said.

“After hearing that she made the New Caledonia swim team three weeks ago, we made arrangements for one of our family members to come to stay and support her during the 2015 Pacific Games,” he said.

No stranger to PNG with business interests in Kavieng, Meehan was happy for his niece, Adeline.

Meehan said his niece, based in France, was currently a member of the French national swimming team  

Adeline Williams and her fellow New Caledonians, Lara Grangeon and Emma Terebo are smashing Pacific Games record at will along with Amini Fonua of Tonga and Ryan Pini of PNG.