Miguel Molina Profile

AGE: 23 years old

SPORT: Men’s 200m breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Two-time Olympian

MEDALS: Best Male Athlete, 2007 Southeast Asian GamesPhilippine record-holder, 100m freestyle, 50m and 200m butterfly, and 200m and 400m Individual Medley

IT could very well be the end of the Miguel Molina era in swimming.

But before the best Filipino swimmer of the decade retires his goggles, Molina wants to put an emphatic stamp to a storied career that has aquatics aficionados calling him the most prolific RP tanker since Eric Buhain.

“I think [this Olympics] will be pretty exciting,” Molina, 23, confessed.

Hasn’t his national-team career, spanning seven years since he was recruited by the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association in 2001, been?

In his first foray as part of Team Philippines, Molina was part of the relay team that took the bronze medal in the 2001 Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games.

In 2002, RP swimming officially found a new savior in Molina after he won seven gold medals to dominate the Southeast Asian age-group competitions in Thailand. In the Asian Games in Korea, Molina made it through the finals of the 200m freestyle, and the 200m and 400m individual medley.

In 2003, Molina copped his first individual gold medal in the SEA Games, taking the 200m freestyle to go with the 4x200m freestyle relay. He also had two silver and three bonze medals to help improve on the country’s finish from zero gold and sixth place in 2001 to three golds and third place in 2003.

In 2004, Molina reached the apex of his career when he qualified for the Athens Olympics. He participated in the 200m free, 200m breaststroke, and the 200m and 400m IM, making him the first Filipino in 16 years to qualify in four individual events (since Buhain and Rene Concepcion in the 1988 Seoul Games).

But Molina was just getting started. In the 2005 Manila SEA Games, he won gold medals in the 200m breaststroke, and the 200m and 400 IM.

He returned to the Asian Games in Doha in 2006 to again reach the finals in three individual events (200m breaststroke and the 200m and 400 IM).

In 2007—in what could be his last SEA Games—Molina won golds in the 200m breaststroke, the 200m and 400m IM, and in the 4x100 medley relay and a silver (4x100m freestyle relay) and a bronze (200m free). For his feats, Molina was adjudged the Best Male Athlete of the Games, the second Filipino to be given the award (behind Buhain in 1991).

In the FINA World Championships held earlier in March 2007, Molina became the first Filipino to qualify in the Beijing Olympics after he met the standard time set for the 200m IM. Just last month, the world aquatic-sports governing body awarded Molina an Olympic berth in the 200m breaststroke after FINA recognized Molina’s performance in an invitational tournament held last May in Los Angeles.

According to Pinoyswimming.com, Molina currently holds the RP records in the 200 IM, the 100m and 200m freestyle, and the 50m and 200m butterfly.

Definitely not a bad scroll of accomplishments for somebody who was hooked in baseball in his younger years.

“Participating in the previous Olympics and three World Championships has given me a lot of experience [going into the Olympics]. Unlike before, I know what to expect now,” said the Quezon City-born Molina who was part of the University of California varsity swim team.
Recently, Molina hinted that Beijing would be his last Olympics which means another era in Philippine swimming would be coming to an end.

“I am just focused on improving my time in the Olympics, that’s all I can control,” Molina said. “I can’t control what others can do. I can only control what I can do. If I do my personal best time, then that’s fine with me. It’s all I am asking for.”