Higher standards for Olympians, new talents set

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand – He calls them Olympians, and he’s bringing them to the next level for their stint on the Olympic stage in Beijing.

“These members of the 4x100 medley team are our Olympians, if we can just give them more, they’ll give more,” said swimming president Mark Joseph moments after the Philippines landed the last gold of the swimming competitions – in the men’s 4x100 medley relay.

The team, which won in 3 minutes, 49.28 seconds, is composed of Ryan Arabejo (backstroke), Miguel Molina (breaststroke), James Walsh (butterfly) and Daniel Coakley (freestyle).

Individually, they accounted for the five other individual gold medals. Arabejo won in the men’s 1,500m freestyle and 200m backstroke, Molina in the 200m breaststroke and 200 and 400m individual medley, Walsh in the 200m butterfly and Coakley in the 50m freestyle.

Counting the four gold medals assigned to the relays, the Philippines finished second in swimming with 8-3-7 gold-silver-bronze medals. Singapore had 11-9-1.

All four have qualified for the Beijing Olympics by virtue of their gold medal finish in the Games. Earlier, Molina already qualified in the 200IM while Arabejo also made it to the 1,500m freestyle event after making the cut in two international swimming competitions.

Coakley, only 18, rewrote the 50m freestyle record with a time 22.80. The other record breaker was Walsh, who set the new SEAG mark of 2:00.45 in winning the 200m butterfly.

Twelve new records were established in the swimming competitions, with Malaysia accounting for four. Daniel Bego claimed the new 100m butterfly record in 54.33 seconds and the 200m freestyle in 1:52.32. Khoo Cai Lin set the mark in the women’s 400m freestyle in 4:18.20 and the 800m freestyle in 8:47.80.

Thailand set new highs in the women’s 4x200 freestyle relay in 8:20.77 and the 4x100m freestyle relay in 3:51.86. Its anchor, Natthanan Krajang, posted the 200m freestyle mark of 2:03.00.

Singapore established a new record in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay (3:26.70) and women’s 4x100 medley relay (4:13.18) while Nocolette Teo Wei shattered the old mark in the women’s 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:10.15.

Joseph said he hopes to be able to send six or seven more in the men’s events and two from the women’s group.

The swimming association has brought in Australian coach, Andy Astfalck, whose job is to improve the swimmers’ strokes and as well as their stamina. Asfalck, also a fitness coach in Down Under, is also training 10-14 year-olds, who, according to Joseph, should be ready for the 2012 Olympics.

Their training center is the TRACE College in Los Baños where the 2005 SEA Games swimming and diving events were conducted.

“My job is make them more efficient swimmers so they can go the next higher level,” said Asfalck, who added that, given four to five years, Filipino swimmers could reach higher standards in the sport.

“From the performance of the swimmers, we can see that our program is working,” said Joseph.

Joseph said the swimming program aims to give junior swimmers the basic training locally, after which the elite swimmers will be sent abroad on a swimming scholarship to train under international coaches.

Others who are also training abroad are Jackie Pangilinan at the Harvard University in Boston, Erica Totten at the University of Arkansas and Marichi Gandionco at the University of Nevada.

Being trained at the TRACE College are Nikita Dacer from Notre Dame College in Diadiangas, Ronald Guiriba from Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Ernest Dee from La Salle, Denjylie Cordero, Nicole Santiago, Celina Gonzales and Kendrick Uy, who also trained with Arabejo in Florida under the Olympic Solidarity Movement.

“This is a long range program. While we are training our current swimmers, both here and abroad, we are trying to narrow the gap by training young swimmers for the future,” said Joseph.

Joseph said the association is undertaking a nationwide search for talents through the various swimming clubs and over 300 coaches throughout the country.

“We are giving our coaches mandated education and holding seminars so they train kids in their clubs,” he said.