BEIJING – Fil-American James Walsh and teenager Hidilyn Diaz fell short of the medal targets but they established new Philippine norms in a decent show in the swimming and weightlifting competitions of the XXIX Olympic Games last night.
Walsh established a new Philippine mark, set a new Southeast Asian Games standard and emerged from the pool as the first Filipino to breach the two-minute barrier in a big, big show against the finest in the 200m butterfly heats last night at the Water Cube here.
Walsh, 21, clocked one minute, 59.39 seconds in topping the second heat and finished 29th among 44 finishers in the event led by American Michael Phelps, who topped it in a new Olympic record of 1:53.70.
Although he failed to make the 16-man semifinals, his name will be entered in the books as the first-ever Filipino to swim below two minutes.
Walsh improved his record of 2:00.42 he set in the 2007 ConocoPhilips USA Swimming Championships on July 31 last year in qualifying for the Olympics. The Olympic qualifying time in the 200m butterfly is 2:01.94.
Walsh’s time of 2:00.94 before yesterday’s heats was 103rd fastest in the world. He is now among the top 30, and could get closer to the top 10 of the world under long-time US coach Anthony Nestey, the 1988 Seoul Olympics gold medalist.
Diaz, considered the future hope of Philippine weightlifting, set a new national record in the 58 kg category on her first Olympic appearance but her effort carried her only to 11th place among 12 contestants.
But she is going home to take a brief vacation with her family in Zamboanga before she continues the second part of her training in China for a second try at the medal in London four years from now.
Miguel Molina, the best swimmer to emerge after two-time Southeast Asian Games Most Outstanding Athlete Eric Buhain, hopes to also surpass the Philippine mark and bring the SEAG mark to a new level in today’s 200m breaststroke and tomorrow’s 200m individual medley.
Christel Simms, 17, tapped to take the place of Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin in the London Olympics, will swim for the Philippine flag on Aug. 13 (100m freestyle) and Aug. 15 (50m freestyle). She also aims to improve her records in both events by one second.
Daniel Coakley is also going for the RP mark in the 50m freestyle on Aug. 14 while Ryan Arabey tries to make the grade in the 1,500m freestyle on Aug. 15.