Sheila dives way to Beijing Olympics

Diver Sheila Mae Perez has joined the short list of Filipino athletes who have qualifiedfor the Beijing Olympics in August.

Mark Joseph, president of the RP swimming association, yesterday broke the news that Perez made it by reaching the semis of the 3m springboard event during the FINA World Cup in Beijing.

Perez, 22,  had a score of 238.15 and finished 17th out of the 52 divers in the semis. A hundred countries sent diving teams to the event held at the brand-new Water Cube facility.

It is the second time Perez made it to the Olympics where she had her debut in 2004 in Athens.

“The judging system was super strict. There were lots of new criteria but she did well. This will be her second Olympics,” said Joseph, who now has six athletes bound for the Beijing in August.

The others are swimmers Miguel Molina, James Walsh, Ryan Arabejo, Daniel Coakley and Christel Simms. The other qualifiers so far are taekwondo’s Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette Rivero, boxer Harry Tañamor and archer Mark Javier.

Two Olympic slots are already reserved for track and field bets, while a few more athletes in boxing, taekwondo and other sports are still trying to qualify.

“We need to make new adjustments because the new scoring system is very different from what we saw in the 2007 SEA Games where no FINA neutral judges were present,” said Joseph.

“If she (Perez) continues to train in China, and get exposed to the FINA Grand Prix in various countries, she will adapt to the world level of judging. Then we can see her strike for the top positions in Beijing.”