Johannesburg — Besides her desire to finally become a world champion in the 400m, there is something else that keeps Shaunae Miller-Uibo awake at night.
The two-time Olympic champion worries about the threat posed to marine life by plastic waste pollution. And with good reason too given that Miller-Uibo, a native of the Bahamas, has always lived by the sea.
It is for that reason that Miller-Uibo has taken up the call by sporting apparel giants Adidas to “Run for the Oceans”.
“Being from the Bahamas when I think of home I think of the marine life — the beaches, the sand, and the sun, you know, just paradise. The thought of losing our marine life because of plastic waste scares me. I would never have thought it was possible,” the gold medalist from the Rio and Tokyo Olympics in the one lap race says in a video on her Instagram page.
“I don’t think a lot of people are aware of what (positive) effect the ocean has on us. This (plastic waste pollution of the seas) isn’t an island problem; it is a world problem that needs the world to do something about it. Now more than ever now it is the time to really come together to try and make a change.”
In an exclusive interview with Independent Media, Miller-Uibo spoke passionately about her desire to spread the word about the importance of ending plastic pollution and saving the oceans.
An Adidas athlete, she has partnered with her sponsors to drum up support for Run for the Oceans and is hopeful that her stature as an Olympic champion will help get the message across.
‘My part is just do my best to try and push the awareness to others, to tell them they can run for the oceans and help end plastic waste. Hopefully everything will come together and that we get a lot of people to begin to understand what’s going on and do their part.”
And just as she has done in the past years, Miller-Uibo will be dedicating her runs to the cause of trying to save the oceans and she is hopeful to do so in a big way at the IAAF World Championships in Oregon in July.
Though she has won two Olympic golds, she has always come short at the world event, and she has her sights set on finally upgrading from the bridesmaid’s’ role she has occupied twice at the championships.
“I am very excited, I didn’t know that the US were hosting the champs for the first time and I know they are going to bring a different energy to it. So, I am really looking forward to it and my training is going very well and we have our mind set on hopefully bringing the gold home this time and I’ve been training hard for that. It’s the one medal I am missing and I am really putting in a lot of work to it to make sure it happens this time.”
A veteran of the sport having first participated at global championships since 2013, the 28-year-old sprinter has established herself as a world superstar.
Other than the Olympic golds, she also has two silver medals from the World Championships in the 400m – attained in the Beijing 2015 and Doha 2019 editions in her specialist 400m. She is also highly competitive in the 200m, Miller Uibo having finished in bronze medal position at the 2017 championships in London.
She is yet to decide whether to participate in both in Oregon, but she will be competing in the two disciplines during the upcoming Diamond League competitions as well as at her country’s nationals.
“The goal for this year is the world champs but I will be running in a few Diamond League races so there isn’t a lot of races I will be competing in. Then there’s the nationals, our trials at home and then we go to the championships. But we are taking that decision of what to compete in slowly and we will make the decision at the end. But my focus is really on the 400m as I’d like to finally get that gold.”
IOL Sport