Molina, SEAG top male athlete, retires

MANILA, Philippines –  Miguel Molina, once hailed as the top athlete in the Southeast Asian Games, has retired from competitive swimming.

The 26-year-old Molina, who was born in Manila, grew up in Tokyo and honed his skills at Berkeley in California, is a veteran of the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He has surpassed the qualifying standard for the 2012 London Olympics, but thoughts of retirement caught up with him 16 months before what should be his third Olympics.

Philippine Aquatic Sports Association president Mark Joseph yesterday broke the news of Molina’s unexpected retirement, saying the 26-year-old champion might just shift his focus to coaching.

It was in the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand where Molina truly made the Philippines proud.

He won the gold in the 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley, the team 4x100 medley relay together with Daniel Coakley, James Walsh, and Ryan Arabejo, and a silver in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay again with Coakley, Walsh and Kendrick Uy.

For his feat, Molina was named the top male athlete of the Thailand SEA Games. He came home to Manila and received the Athlete of the Year award from the Philippine Sportswriters Association.

Another reason that led to his retirement was that Molina felt he needed to give the others the chance to shine.

Molina was at the Beijing Olympics but failed to make waves, missing out on the finals of the 200m breaststroke and 200m IM. He saw action in four events in Athens, and was just unfortunate.

Still, Molina will go down in Philippine history as one of the great swimmers the country has ever produced, next only to the Teofilo Yldefonso, a two-time bronze medalist in the Olympics (1932), Ral Rosario, Eric Buhain or Akiko Thomson.

“PASA and the swimming family are grateful to Miguel for his untiring effort, patriotism and good example to all swimmers. He and Ryan Arabejo have surpassed the 2012 Olympic qualifying standard with 16 months to go so it’s a big loss to our Olympic drive,” said Joseph.

“He raised the standard of Philippine swimming, and has raised all of us up with him. PASA has learned a lot from Miguel, what it takes to discover, support and develop an athlete to compete at two Olympics and three World Championships,” he added.