Alkhaldi, Lacuna test waters vs world's best

LONDON – The Philippines’ Jessie Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi don’t see themselves getting reduced to star-struck fans because they won’t be swimming with the likes of Americans Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Nathalie Coughlin and Germany’s Britta Steffen in the 30th Olympic Games.

On instructions of former Olympian Pinky Brosas, the two young, first-time Olympians will “swim their pace and make the most out of it’’ when they compete in the heats of their respective events, according to a spokesman of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The 18-year-old Lacuna swims in the second heat of the 200-meter freestyle on Sunday, hoping to be at par with six others with just about the same clocking. With his qualifying time of 1:52.23, he is grouped with Mario Montoya of Costa Rica (1:52.64), Sebastian Jahnsen Madico of Peru (1:50.98), Radovan Siljevski of Serbia (1:49.47), Matias Koski of Finland (1:50.54) and Raul Martinez Colomer of Puerto Rico (1:52.87).

The swimmers are pre-ranked according to their FINA clockings in the continental trials and will be bunched together in the heats according to their relative strength. This makes the contest more exciting to watch than when the likes of Michael Phelps are made to swim with Lacuna and other Southeast Asian bets.

It doesn’t look good to see on camera that Phelps had already completed the event while the slower swimmers of Cambodia or Vietnam are still 25 meters to the finish line.

The slower swimmers are grouped together in the first heats, but this does not mean the fastest swimmers in these heats advance to the semifinals.

Vying for a slot in the semifinals are in the group of Lochte (1:44.44), while Yannick Agnel of France is highest-ranked in the sixth heat with 12:44.42. The 16 swimmers in the last two heats have an established time of 1:47 or better.

The clockings of all the swimmers will determine who will advance to the semifinals and eventually to the gold medal finals of every event.

More countries have qualified for a slot in the London Olympics under the “Universality” rule of the International Swimming Federation (FINA).

The FINA rules on universality are the result of its expanded implementation of the IOC’s “everybody must have the chance to compete” policy.

The new FINA rule allows for a starting pool of 900 swimmers in all events. Although the more developed countries get a first crack at the slots, not all of the world’s top 100 players – like those in the US and Australia – get to swim in the Olympics.

Otherwise, the Olympics becomes a competition among the US, Russia, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Korea and Japan, which taken altogether, have more than that number.

The FINA has not published its latest world rankings before the London Games but the previous rankings had no swimmers in the top 50 from outside the top eight countries of the world. It is likely none would have reached the top 50 ranking even from such countries like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia which have in place a massive swimming program run by committed, competent leaders.

The new rule allows countries to send only their top two athletes to the Olympics in every event and excludes all others even if they are qualified under the A (Olympic Qualifying Time) or B (Olympic Selection Time).

Instead the slots are allotted to the other non-represented countries, like those in Southeast Asia, which find it an honor to compete even if their marks are outside the top 150 in the world.

That’s the reason Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam and even Cambodia are represented in the Games. This is in line with FINA’s “universality” rule which is in keeping with its Sports For All policy. But, as the national swimming association said, countries have to show their worth to gain the slots.

Alkhaldi is competing in the 100m freestyle.

The Olympics will, in a way, be a “Southeast Asian Games competition” among Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia. Their stint in London could be a fair indicator of how they will fare in next year’s SEA Games in Myanmar.