Sereana Salalo/PACNEWS

Flying the Samoan flag at every discus competition gave him a sense of identity for his culture and family.

Thirteen years later, he created history by becoming Samoa’s first Olympian to qualify for the finals in an Athletics event.

The 32-year-old, US-born athlete said he could not be prouder.

The discus thrower was the 12th to qualify for the finals by the narrowest of margins against New Zealand’s Connor Bell at Stade de France.

Rose grabbed the last spot with the same distance as Bell, 62.88 meters; he achieved that mark with his first attempt while Bell did it with his second.

His second throw was a foul while his third was 60.94 meters.

“Things do not always happen as you plan. I’m just so happy to make my first Olympic final and first Olympic final for Samoa,” he said.

“I’m just so thankful that things turned out the way they did, and I managed to squeeze in.”

“The stadium felt dead as far as the wind goes; I don’t think anyone was getting assistance from the wind.”

“There was a lot of tension, a lot of medalists in the group - tensions were high and the nerves affected everybody.”

“It’s a lot of pressure doing the qualifying rounds, maybe more than the finals at times, at least in my position.”

While his last two Olympic Games outings were memorable, his competition at the Paris 2024 Games was for a more special reason – it was for his one-year and nine-month-old son.

"This Olympics, I’m a new father,” he said.

"I’m working full-time on top of training full-time, it’s been difficult, but for some reason ever since my wife and I decided to have a family, I’ve made every single final since. This is my third one, I don’t know why it’s working but it is."

“Having a family put things into perspective and maybe alleviates some pressure from track.”

Rose has made six world championship appearances since his 2013 debut; he has twice reached the finals in 2022 and 2023, with a best finish of eighth in 2022.

His father was born and raised in Samoa and emigrated to the US at the age of 19 with a church band.

"When I started competing for Samoa it was an opportunity for me to discover my roots where my father grew up most of his life. I think it’s turned into something a lot more."

“I could have represented the US but now I just beat all the US athletes in the qualifying.”

“It really means a lot of things to me; Samoa does not have a lot of money or popularity with athletics so for me to make a final and do my best for the Pacific means everything.”

He is keen to return ready on the day of the finals.

He acknowledged Bell’s great performance and wishes him well in future competitions, noting that Bell has a bright future in the sport being only 23.

Meanwhile, Rose was Samoa’s opening ceremony flag-bearer at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and closing ceremony flag-bearer at the Olympic Games Rio 2016.