PHILIPPINE swimming officials, disappointed at yet a third straight Asian Games medal drought, said they will focus on grassroots program more to get many swimming talents who are “slipping through the cracks.” “I am disappointed and really thought we would do better. I guess this was a wakeup call for us,” said Philippine Aquatic Sports Association president Mark Joseph in a series of e-mail replies to Manila Standard.
Backstroke ace Ryan Papa, who now lives in Michigan, gave the Philippines two bronze medals in the 1998 Asian Games.
Although the Philippine swimmers landed in the finals of the two freestyle relays, the fourth place in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay was its best performance. A gallant effort by anchorman Miguel Molina in the 4x200-meter relay pushed the Filipinos from sixth place, six seconds behind South Korean Olympic star Park Taehwan.
The relay team’s time of 7:30.76 is a new Philippine record, Joseph added.
“I am going to begin focusing more on our grassroots program as too many talents are ‘falling through the cracks’ and remain undiscovered. Coach education will be our major focus,” Joseph said.
Joseph added that he has yet to talk to the 26-year-old Molina about his plans.
“If he decides this is his last games, then we will honor him fittingly for all he has done for our country and wish him Godspeed. New talents will fill his shoes. Eventually,” said Joseph of the top performer in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games.
It’s urgent for the Philippines, once a power in Asian swimming, to improve, as the Asian Games is turning out to be as strong as the Olympics in certain events, like the freestyle.
“Before it was just Japan that would make the Top 8 in the Olympics, but now, we have a Korean Olympic gold medalist, and Chinese world record holders. Between those three countries, and… Taiwan, Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it’s really hard to even make it to finals,” said Joseph, a former Asian Games bronze medalist in the 1,500 meters.
Ryan Arabejo, the only other Filipino aside from Miguel Molina to enter the finals, encountered a hot pace set in the 1,500 by the winner, Sun Yang of China, whose winning time of 14:34.56 nearly clipped the nine-year-old world record of 14:35.43 by Grant Hackett.
Arabejo swam 16:11.74, far from his best time of 15:30, in landing seventh, but Joseph said he “swam based on his training” in Florida .
“Since school started in late August for him, he would be just about entering mid-season when training in and out of the pool is heaviest. So he did not flounder, but swam based on his training. This is the trick and trade off we have to make to get our swimmers US scholarships,” explained Joseph.
