She rocks forward bringing her hand to her mouth. For a split second, you see the raw emotion before she composes herself.
She walks up to the podium and gives a straight-faced speech to the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee.
Long jumper Rellie Kaputin, 29, is named flag-bearer for her country.
"Through my commitment and hard work, I think I deserve this," Kaputin says.
"I'm really proud to go out there and hold the flag of my country."
Going as far back as Roman warfare, the flag-bearer has represented the most important warrior on the battlefield.
They were paid double in some armies. It was hazard pay, because in combat they are a beacon; the one to follow for unity and cohesion. A huge target. Only the bravest soldier could be a flag-bearer.
For team PNG this Commonwealth Games, there is no-one more courageous than Kaputin.
She is PNG's 66th Olympian, making her debut last year at Tokyo.
In a sport where anything over six metres is very good, she jumped 6.4m to finish 19th, achieving her goal of an Olympic top-20 place.
She is the PNG record holder in the long, triple, and high jumps, and is the Pacific Games record holder for the long jump.
In the last two years, Kaputin has overcome a potentially career-ending injury and the death of two Aunties, one of whom helped raise her.
Kaputin's stoicism borne out of hardship
She grew up in a tiny village called Tinganalom in the far east of New Britain, near Rabaul.
In Kaputin's social media she often hashtags her ethnic group from the region, the Tolai, and adds a volcano emoji — because where she's from is full of them.
When you search Tinganalom on Google Earth, it is little more than a church with a few houses sprinkled through dense green and dirt tracks.
Yet Kaputin says she dreamed of being an Olympian from when she was "very little". Her story is like a Disney script.
Her village upbringing and the early separation of her parents shape her stoic persona.
"My parents got separated and I had to grow up with my Mum alone," Kaputin says.
"That's how I learned to be strong and overcome every situation along the way 'til today."
This hardship is what she drew upon when she had one of the most remarkable injury comebacks in athletics.
She cracked her fibula, or in simple terms, she broke her ankle.
Yes, a jumper with a broken ankle. Surely that's a done deal.
It happened in PNG while demonstrating a jump for kids. A dodgy sandpit was all it took to derail her future in seconds.
She was told she wouldn't walk on it for close to a year. But, 18 months later, she would qualify for the Olympics.
"When I cracked my fibula bone … I was told I was not going to walk almost a year," she says.
"But I overcame that and got back on both my feet within three months."
PacificAus partnership's 'golden girl'
Kaputin is a golden girl for the PacificAus Sports partnership.
The initiative supports Pacific nation athletes and sports. It is funded by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is a feather in their 'soft diplomacy' cap.
The funding tailors to need, but in the lead up to a big international competition, many use it to train in Australian high-performance camps.
Kaputin was one of many Pacific Islanders whose training for Tokyo was thrown out due to COVID.
Travel restrictions and lockdowns compounded the usual obstacles for Pacific Islanders.
She was in Australia for 17 months and earned her Olympic qualification during that time, which otherwise wouldn't have been possible.
In a much shorter camp, Kaputin was a "big sis" and mentor to her younger PNG Commonwealth Games teammates.
Before heading to Birmingham, they shared an apartment and trained together on the Gold Coast.
"When we live together, cook together, train together it helps us stay happy and focused on our goal," Kaputin says.
This Commonwealth Games, PNG will field 34 athletes in weightlifting, table tennis, squash, swimming, track and field, and boxing.
At the Opening Ceremony Rellie Kaputin will lead them all - brave, resolute, and beaming as she bears her country's flag.
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony takes place on Friday, July 29, at 4am AEST.
