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By Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter and Emil
C. Noguera, Correspondent
DESPITE a disappointing sixth-place finish in
the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, the Philippines still
has a reason to celebrate as the swimming team produced eight golds,
four coming from US-trained Miguel Molina.
The 23-year-old Molina ruled the men’s
200-meter and 400-meter individual medley, men’s 200-meter
breaststroke and anchored the men’s 4x100 medley relay to earn the
SEAG Male Most Valuable Player honor and the $10,000 in cash that
went with the award.
Besides his four golds, Molina also won the
silver in the men’s 4x100-m
freestyle relay and the bronze in the men’s
200-meter freestyle.
Highlighting the gold rush was Daniel
Coakley’s record-breaking feat in the 50-m freestyle.
The 6-foot-1 Filipino-Hawaiian, great grandson
of Olympic bronze medalist Teofilo Ildefonso, clocked 23.08 seconds
to eclipse the two-year-old record of 23.76 seconds set by Ronald
Guiriba.
At the same time, Coakley also earned a ticket
in the Beijing Games after meeting the Category B qualifying time of
23.13 seconds.
James Walsh, another Fil-American, shared the
limelight with Coakley with his record-breaking performance in the
men’s 200-meter butterfly.
Walsh registered two minutes and 45 seconds to
erase the 2:01.84 record of Malaysian Anthony Ang established in the
2001 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.
Incidentally, Walsh and Coakley were in the
4x100 individual medley relay gold medal team.
The second-best performer in swimming was Ryan
Arabejo, who dominated the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle, men’s
200-meter backstroke and men’s 4x100 medley relay.
“It was really a fantastic campaign. Sana
maipagpatuloy ng mga atleta antin ang magandang kampanya hanggang sa
2008 Beijing Olympics,” said Philippine Amateur Swimming
Association president Mark Joseph.
The other silver medal winners were Walsh in the
men’s 100-meter butterfly, Erica Totten in the women’s 200-meter
butterfly and the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Also contributing bronze medals were Arabejo in
the men’s 400-meter freestyle, Kendrick Uy in the men’s
100-meter freestyle, Totten in the women’s 200-meter
freestyle, Jaclyn Pangilinan in the women’s 100-meter and
200-meter breaststroke, and the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay.
Overall, the Philippines finished second in the
swimming competition behind perennial champion Singapore, who
collected 11 golds, nine silvers and six bronzes.
“We never pressured them to win because they
already know what to do with the opportunity given to them,”
national coach Carlo Brosas said. “We just take care of them well
by implementing program suited to their skills and environment.”
The Olympian-laden team bested its 2005 Manila
SEAG record of 4-4-5 gold-silver-bronze medal tally—seemingly not
getting the lack of funds get in the way of its mission to win for
the country.
“Funds will always be a problem, but we have
organized a systematic framework on how to deal with it,” Brosas
said. “The coaches’ education and talent identification are our
priorities.”
Brosas said PASA will send Totten, Ma. Regina
Gandionco, Totten and Uy to the FINA World Championships and Japan
Open next year in hopes of getting more slots in the Beijing
Olympics. Already qualified are Molina, Arabejo, Walsh and Coakley.
But as beaming as he may sound, Brosas is also
aware that the abovementioned Olympians will not swim forever so
they have to prepare for the future.
PASA is currently training promising swimmers in
the Philippine Center for Excellence in Aquaitcs located in Trace
College in Los Baños, Laguna. 2007 SEAG campaigners Nikita Dacera
and Celine Gonzales were products of the program.
“Our players know that it takes a lot of
sacrifice to be a champion, so we are starting this early,” Brosas
said. “They should put their best foot forward in every swim or
else the opportunity to win it big will pass them by.”
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