At the age of 20 years and 73 days, Asenate Manoa was the youngest athlete to represent Tuvalu at the London Games. She had previously participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Manoa qualified for the Games by using a wildcard because her fastest time of 13.82 seconds, recorded on 21 June 2011 in Apia, Samoa, was 2.44 seconds slower than the "B" qualifying standard for her event, the women's 100 metres sprint. In an interview with "The Daily Telegraph" before the Games she said she had been nervous taking part in Beijing but was looking forward to participating in London. Manoa was drawn in the second heat of the preliminary round, finishing seventh out of eight runners, with a time of 13.48 seconds. Her time established a new Tuvaluan national record in the displicine. He finished 73rd overall out of 78 competitors, and was unable to progress into the first round after finishing 1.48 seconds slower than the slowest athlete in her heat who made the later stages. She was pleased with her performance, saying that she felt she could run quicker: "I know what I need to work on, in order for me to go faster and get another National Record. I hope everyone in Tuvalu is proud of me."