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By Emil C. Noguera, Correspondent
FILIPINO swimmers and divers going to the
Olympics will share the world-class Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños,
Laguna, with some 15 foreign athletes who are also competing in the
Beijing Games.
Philippine Amateur Swimming Association
President Mark Joseph said five US-based tankers led by Miguel
Molina and divers Sheila Mae Perez and Ryan Rexel Fabriga will
arrive on July 25, to continue their intensive training in the venue
of the 2007 Manila SEA Games.
Swimmers from Latin America and Africa are also
coming in town to acclimatize themselves.
“Our athletes will be training in Los Banos
before heading to Beijing. Iba kasi ang kundisyon ng panahon sa
United States. They’ll also have the chance to train with some
Olympians who decided to train here,” said Joseph.
“Schedule of training is not a problem because
we have a prepared program for our athletes,” he added.
Besides Molina, those currently training in the
US are Ryan Arabejo and Fil-Americans Daniel Coakley, James Walsh
and Christel Simms.
Olympians Anthony Nesty and Sergio Lopez Miro
are also arriving to monitor the training of the national team.
Nesty, a gold medalist in the 1988 Seoul
Olympics, is the assistant coach of the University of Florida
swimming team.
Miro, on the other hand, is the head coach of
the swimming team at the Bolles School. He won the bronze medal also
in Seoul Olympics.
Molina, named best male athlete during the 2007
Southeast Asian Games, erased three national records in the Janet
Evans Swimming Championships held in University of South California
last month.
Coakley and Arabejo are training in Bolles while
Simms is with the Hawaiian swim club.
Joseph admitted that landing in the podium is a
daunting task for the Filipino Olympians.
“We want to win medals but the competition in
the Olympics is too high. But our athletes are working so hard to be
in their best forms when they compete against world-class athletes.
Making it to the top 16 is already a big accomplishment,” stressed
Joseph.
Thirty-four gold medals are up for grabs in
swimming and eight in diving.
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