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BEIJING—A better collegiate program back home could
perhaps propel Filipino swimmers to world-class
standards.
“We need
a better collegiate program. The UAAP [University
Athletic Association of the Philippines] has only two
races a year,” said Mark Joseph, president of the
Philippine Amateur Swimming Association (Pasa).
Two of
the five Filipinos entered in these 29th Olympics have
fared poorly, with Miguel Molina failing to even match
his personal best—which is also the national record—in
the men’s 200-meter breaststroke heats at the
state-of-the-art Water Cube.
“He
missed it by three-tenths of a second,” said Joseph of
Molina’s time of 2:16.94. “But that doesn’t mean he’s
down and out.”
Molina
was scheduled to swim in the heats of the 200-meter
individual medley (IM) Wednesday night. He is not
expected to advance but Joseph is confident he will
break his own national record there.
“He is
an IMer. The IM is really what Miguel has prepared for
here,” said Joseph, who added that he doubts if the
25-year-old Molina would retire after these Olympics as
reported.
“I
believe he will be available for next year’s World
Championships [Rome] and the SEA [Southeast Asian] Games
[Laos] and the Asian,” he said. Molina was the Male
Athlete of last year’s SEA Games in Thailand.
Joseph
added: “He’s improved so much the past year; he’s
getting faster and stronger.”
James
Bernard Walsh also swam in his only event—the men’s 200
butterfly—and was No. 1 in his heat but 27th overall.
The 21-year-old from Virginia Beach, Virginia, however,
set a new RP standard of 1:59.39, the first sub-2:00
registered by a swimmer from the Southeast Asian region.
“If we
have a strong collegiate program back home, we would
have a bigger pool of swimmers,” added Joseph. “What
happens is that 17-year-old swimmers don’t get that much
competition at home, despite a strong junior program.”
Coaches’
education, he said, is also vital. “So much so that the
coaches could keep our swimmers on a par with the
world’s best,” he said.
Christel
Simms, the country’s lone representative in women’s
swimming here, was entered in Wednesday night’s heats of
the 100-meter freestyle. Her goal, like all the rest in
the five-member swimming team, is to set national
records.
Simms
will swim in her second event Friday—the 50-meter
freestyle—and so will Ryan Arabejo—the men’s 1,500
meters also of freestyle.
On
Thursday, a great grandson of the first Filipino Olympic
medalist—Teofilo Yldefonso (bronze medalist in the 1928
and 1932 Games)—Daniel Coakley will vie in the ninth of
13 heats scheduled in the men’s 50-meter freestyle.
“I
expect them to do well in those events. Simms and
Coakley are sprinters. They are pure racers,” a
confident Joseph said.
Coakley
is not given much of a chance to advance to the 16-man
semifinals of the event, which world record-holder Eamon
Sullivan of Australia is expected to dominate.
“He [Coakley]
has a strong commitment to give his best for the
country. He loves to race and compete, so we will see
him do well,” said Joseph. Coakley, 18, grew up in
Hawaii. His dad is a lifeguard, the reason he has become
competitive in the sport.
Coakley
owns a personal best 22.80 seconds, way off the 21.28
world record Sullivan set in Sydney in 2000.
Arabejo
is only 18 and is the SEA Games champion who has a
personal best of 15:39.86 in the 1,500. Simms, on the
other hand, has 26.31 across her name, also much slower
than the 23.97 of world record-holder Lisbeth Trickett
of Australia and 24.25 of ageless Dara Torres of the
United States. |
