"WITNESSING Arnold Sorina walking down a street in his native Vanuatu, you could mistake him for royalty. There aren't too many people in the small South Pacific island nation that don't know him, or at least know of him.

Requests for high fives and handshakes or just shouts of ``hey Arnold'' follow him pretty much wherever he goes. It's also not unusual for Sorina to be offered land or housing, either, such is the adulation for this national hero thrust into stardom last year after becoming the first Vanuatu athlete to qualify for a semi-final of a Commonwealth Games event.

Yet there's no hint of ego from the quietly spoken, but quick-witted runner. It's because that life of adulation is not what the 23-year-old athlete reckons he wants or needs - not if he is going to fulfil his true potential when he realises his Olympic dream in London next year, anyway. To do that, the 800m specialist has turned to Townsville.

For the past three months and right up until the Games, Sorina will be based in the city, training under the watchful eye of coach and North Queensland Athletics development officer Cameron Clayton to hone his skills.

``It's a great place to prepare for my competitions,'' Sorina said.

``At home we don't have the coaches, that's the biggest failure, or these good facilities to run on a good synthetic track or just running on the road. At home you can't find a good road like this (pointing to Warburton St)."

"The weather as well It is just like Vanuatu, it is always warm and good conditions all the time, which is good for training and good for my body. I have been injured many times in the past because of the weather being too cold for me."

``Here I've had no injuries and (I have achieved some of) my best results.''

Sorina is able to take advantage of the North thanks to an International Olympic Committee Olympic Solidarity scholarship, which he takes extremely seriously, knowing it means plenty of people have extreme belief in him.

He desperately doesn't want to let any of them down. As Sorina effortlessly floated down the track at the Townsville Sports Reserve this week, though, it was clear he's not wasting it.

He's already had training stints in New Zealand and on the Gold Coast, but it's in Townsville that he is getting it done.

Already Vanuatu's 800m record holder, Sorina is slowly but surely building a reputation down under - most notably at this year's Stawell Gift when, starting from a back marker, he rocketed to a second-place finish.

Just last week he cruised to gold in the 800m at the Oceania Games in Samoa, and he also unofficially smashed his nation's 400m record when competing in the relay. Do the same in the individual event and he'll again qualify for the Olympics.

``There are so many improvements, especially in my 400s,'' he said when asked how being in Townsville had helped him.

``At the (Stawell Gift) where I have never run fast like that before and the other, the gold in the 800 in Samoa, I have never run a good comfortable 800 like that before.''

Clayton, who has formed a strong bond with Sorina since the pair met in a chance encounter in Brisbane two years ago, has no doubt the relaxed, but focused runner has unbelievable potential to unleash. While Sorina is unquestionably genetically gifted, his mentor said it

was his willingness to push boundaries and thirst to learn that took him from the ``good'' category to the cusp of excellence.

``We went from the end of February saying he would do the Stawell Gift in mid-April, and just seeing how much he progressed in that limited time frame, if we get a smooth ride . . . there's no reason why he can't be getting way past his semi-finals berth at the Com Games and doing the same thing at the world and Olympic level,'' Clayton said. ``He just responds really well to various training loads and therefore improves very quickly.''

Remarkably Sorina - one of six children who was born on Vanuatu's beautiful island of Pentecost - only began competitively running six years ago. Within 12 months he was lining up in the heats of the 400m at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games before his and his nation's crowning moment in Delhi last year.

``They wanted to give me lands and houses,'' Sorina said with a laugh about his reception when he returned from the Games.

``People just give me a high five I don't know who it is but I just do it.''

But all that adulation was never going to be enough to take Sorina from the Games' semis to the finals and maybe even a medal. For all their good intentions, Vanuatu athletics is not yet well-equipped enough to turn their athletes world-class.

So while living in the North may not command him the royal treatment, it is Townsville that can make him king."

With Thanks to the Townsville Bulletin and Athletics North Queensland