RP tankers reaching peak form

Swim chief Mark Joseph yesterday said the Olympic-bound Filipino tankers training in various centers in the United States are peaking in time for the Beijing Games.

Joseph cited Miguel Molina’s impressive performance in the Janet Evans International Invitational at the University of Southern California as a strong indication that the five-member swimming team is doing well in its Olympic buildup.

“Miguel surpassed three RP records there and that’s a strong indicator that he’s peaking continuously and he’s adapting well to the Olympic conditions,” said Joseph in yesterday’s weekly SCOOP sa Kamayan in Padre Faura, Manila.

While Molina, the Most Outstanding Athlete in last year’s SEA Games in Thailand where he snared four gold medals, is at the USC, Ryan Arabejo and Fil-Am Daniel Coakley are training at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida.

“They (Arabejo and Coakley) are performing pretty well in Florida because they’re joining different tournaments every two weeks there,” said Joseph.

Arabejo, in fact, said he would have wanted to qualify in some more events like the 400m freestyle but his American coach told him to concentrate on the 1,500m freestyle instead.

“Ryan was told by his coach at Bolles to focus on his event, which is the 1,500m,” said Joseph.

Fil-Am James Walsh, meanwhile, has been concentrating on his preparation for the Beijing Games.

“James is doing good. He has graduated now from University of Florida. He has nothing to do but train,” he said.

Christel Simms, the fifth Filipino tanker, is also in deep training in Hawaii and would join Arabejo, Coakley and Walsh in Florida soon.

The five will then head to RP for the final training and at the same time acclimatize to the Asian weather in late July at the Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna.

Thirty-five other Beijing-bound swimmers from 10 countries, including the Bahamas, Oman, South Africa and some Latin countries are also coming over.

“Not only will the Filipino Olympians be coming here on July 26 to Aug. 5 to acclimatize to the time zone, but also some 35 swimmers from 10 other countries are coming to train in the Philippines,” said Joseph.

“On Aug. 5 all of them will then be leaving for Beijing,” he said.