LONG jumpers Henry Dagmil and Marestella Torres have been named on the elite Team Philippines gunning for the country’s first Olympic gold medal in the Beijing Games from August 8 to 24.

Dagmil, fresh from his two-month training in Los Angeles, holds the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) record of 7.87 meters he made in Thailand last year.

Torres, a back-to-back SEAG champion, currently holds silver and bronze medals in the recent Asian Athletics Grand Prix. Her personal best is 6.63 meters.

The 26-year-old Dagmil broke the national record last month in Bush, California, during the United States Track and Field Championships where he cleared 7.99 meters.

Despite Dagmil and Torres’s credentials, athletics chief Go Teng Kok knows Olympic gold is a tall order, even for the long jumpers who have devoted almost their entire life to the sport.

“We admit that landing in the medal podium is quite far from reality. Malalakas na atleta na mula sa buong mundo ang maglalaban-laban. Pero siguradong gagawin ng mga atleta natin ang lahat para makasabay sa tindi ng kumpetisyon sa Olympics,” said Go.

Dagmil and Torres will be joining boxer Harry Tańamor, taekwondo’s Mary Antoinette Rivero and Tshomlee Go, swimmers Miguel Molina, James Walsh, Daniel Coakley, Ryan Arabejo and Christel Simms, divers Sheila Mae Perez and Ryan Rexel Fabriga, archer Mark Javier and shooter Eric Ang in Beijing.

Meanwhile, Ang said China’s summer heat will be a definite plus for him.

“They say that the heat in Beijing will be the same as in the Philippines. That is definitely an advantage,” said Ang, who recently finished seventh in the World Cup in Seul, Germany.

Ang said he had already competed at the Beijing Shooting Range, the shooting venue for the Olympics, during a World Cup event in April where he placed 22nd.

The Olympics trap shooting event is slated August 9 to 10.

Ang failed to make it in the finals of the World Cup in Germany after losing in a shoot-off to 2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist Michael Diamond of Australia.

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LONG jumpers Henry Dagmil and Marestella Torres have been named on the elite Team Philippines gunning for the country’s first Olympic gold medal in the Beijing Games from August 8 to 24.

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