A big gap between Yeo and the rest

LOS BANOS, Laguna – Bad news for the Philippines: Singapore’s pool phenom Joscelin Yeo is here.

Yeo, who harvested six gold medals in the 2003 Hanoi Southeast Asian Games to become the event’s best female athlete, will spearhead the Singapore team beefed up by former Chinese Nationals when the SEAG swimming competitions unfold today at the Trace Aquatics Center here.

Yeo, 21, makes her first appearance in the 100-meter freestyle where she is not only the defending champion but also the record holder as well with a time of 56.05 seconds.

Yeo is also expected to participate in the 50-m freestyle, 100-m butterfly, 200-m individual medley, 4x100 freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relays where she is the reigning gold medal winner.

The former University of California and the Oxford University scholar is a veteran of four Olympic Games — 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens — and was, in fact, her country’s flag bearer in the Sydney Olympics.

Also, Yeo is record holder of six swimming SEA Games events — 200-m individual medley, 100-m breaststroke, 100-m butterfly, 200-m free, 50-m free and 400-m IM — aside from the 100-m freestyle.

What is amazing about her feats was that she registered it all in the 1999 Brunei Games where she was only 18 years old.

This is truly bad news not only for the Filipinos but the rest of the competition as well.