Fin swimmers make debut versus Vietnam, Indonesia

PALEMBANG – When a group of age group swimmers from Palawan participated in a hastily called tryout last February and were invited last May to join a training program in fin swmming for the Southeast Asian games, they and their parents thought it was a big joke.

“They couldn’t believe they’d be going to the SEA Games,” said Faye Torres, mother of lone female fin swimmer Danielle Faith, 15, who went into serious training in fin swimming only three months ago.

As it turned out, the Philippine Olympic Committee had already considered sending fin swimmers to the SEA Games where 16 gold medals are at stake.

The top swimmers in the event are from Vietnam, which introduced the sport as host in the 2003 SEA GAmes, and Indonesia, Thailand and possisbly Malaysia, Laos and Singapore.

Torres, a student of Palawan Hope Christian School, will make her debut at 6 p.m. today in the 200m surface event at the aquatic center of the Jakabaring Sriwijayan Sports Center.

Also making their first appearance in the SEA GAmes are Matthew Earl Rodriguez in the men’s 100m  and Michael Godoy in the 800m of the surface event.

The surface monofin event requires the swimmer to dive only to a maximum of 15 meters under water and surge to the surface to begin his swim using a monfin.

The heats have been cancelled for lack of entries, making the three outright finalists in the first three of 16 medal events in the sport.

In 2003 and 2007, the Philippines didn’t send athletes to the Games because sports officials in the Philippines thought the event won’t be a permanent fixture.

As it appears, Vietnam and Indonesia, seeing it as a gold mine, are pushing the sport for permanent inclusion in the Games, forcing other countries to develop a full time program.

The young swimmers are basically butterfly specialists, whose forward movement simulates the undulation in fin swimming.

But they had to perfect other facets of the game, like controlling or not controlling the breathing patterns on the surface or on the floor of the pool, diving and making the turns with a heavy fin weighing 3.5 kilos.