goodmorningpapua.com – Margaretha Herawati, an athlete of dive pool who presented two gold medals for the host contingent Papua at the XX PON which just finished last month, turns out to have a dream to become a designer and a hobby of photography.
The girl who was born in Jakarta on October 20, 1988, won a gold medal in the women’s 50 meter apnea and 50 meter bifins categories, so that making her name as the first pool diver in the Papua team to win and donate gold medals in a row in the last two PONs.
Previously, at PON XIX West Java in 2016, Retha, as she is known, managed to make a new history by achieving a fantastic time, alias breaking the record in the category of women bifin’s 100 meter with a time of 00:43:77.
She broke the record in her own name at PON XVIII Riau with a time of 00:51:41. During PON XVIII, Retha strengthened the Riau contingent.
For the achievements reached at the XX PON event in Papua, Retha, with her nickname the “Indonesian Queen of Diving” with a collection of 100 medals from various competitions, both domestically and abroad, expressed her gratitude to a number of parties who had encouraged her to reach achievement.
“I am very grateful to KONI Papua and all the people on Earth of Cendrawasih, because of the support so far I have been able to achieve,” she said when met by the media crew in Jayapura City, Papua, recently.
In particular, Retha said to her adoptive parents, Komjen Pol Paulus Waterpauw, who had been supporting her to make history for the Papuan people.
“I feel the support from my adoptive parents, Mr. Paulus Waterpauw, my family and biological mother, as well as my late father. My journey is long enough, to achieve and record history in the field of swimming and pool diving,” she said.
To make this prestigious achievement, the winner of five gold medals at the 2006 Olympic Allian Paris, France and the holder of national and Asian records in the 2009 Finswimming National Selection and II in Jakarta, trained hard enough despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I have been training since 2019 in Russia, but because of the pandemic I had to return to Indonesia and train in Jakarta. In training I was monitored by the Russian coach online for two years. All of these require struggle, and the support of all parties, since achieving two gold medals at the Papua National PON is not easy,” she said.
Now, Retha admits that she is preparing herself to practice for a regional event that will be held next year. Retha hopes that her many achievements, especially in XX PON, can be a motivation for Papuan young people in the future. She also admitted that she is ready if one day herself is asked to become a swimming or diving coach for the province that produces the largest copper and gold mine in the world. “Please support me so I can appear at the 2022 Sea Games in Vietnam,” she asked.