Eugenia Tanaka's Olympic Dream
Although Eugenia Tanaka received her Bachelor of Food Science last year, it has now taken a backseat as she prepares to travel to China to compete in the Olympic Games.
Having started Badminton at the age of eleven in her native country Indonesia, Tanaka continued in Australia where she moved to only a few years later. She came first in the Lima International and the Miami International in 2007 and 2008, and then qualified for doubles with Tania Luiz by gaining enough points from their result at the KLRC Atwater Championships in Montreal, Canada.
Tanaka has always been passionate about food, whether it comes to preparing, shopping or eating. "However, it seemed like there was something missing," she explains, "I didn’t know much about the food itself in terms of how it is made commercially, what makes it so tasty, basically, what is in food." Because of this she decided on a Bachelor of Food Science, and chose the University of Melbourne because "its name and reputation is known worldwide."
Studying and training proved to be more difficult than she expected. She has had to work hard at prioritising her time. She explains: "Since my time always revolved mainly on studying or training, there were also some sacrifices to be made, such as my social life. It was somewhat frustrating when I would not have time for relaxing, I was always tired, and could not go out with friends. However, I was lucky because whenever I was behind or missed some lectures or tutes, there were always lecturers, staff and uni friends who were so helpful – without them, I would not have been able to cope."
Although managing her work load and training full time was tough she is proud and honoured to be one of the representatives for a sport that is still growing in Australia. “And to be able to share this experience with other great Australian athletes is like a dream come true.”