Harry Tañamor Profile

AGE: 31 years old

SPORT: Men’s light flyweight

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Two-time Olympian

MEDALS: World Championships, silver winner in 2007 and bronze winner in 2003 and ’01 Silver medalist, 2002 Asian Games

Fierce is the last word that would come to mind when you meet the country’s lone boxer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Although the 30-year old Zamboangueño, exudes humility and gentleness, Harry Tañamor becomes the master of the four-cornered boxing ring during matches.

This year will be Harry’s 2nd time at the summer games, having represented the country in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He looks up to boxing greats such as Oscar dela Joya and fellow Filipino boxers, Olympic bronze medallist Roel Velasco and WBC super featherweight champion, Manny Pacquiao. “Harry enthused with pride in his voice, “Magaling at matapang talaga ang mga boxers natin. Lumalaban talaga ang mga Pinoy.” (Our Filipino boxers are really skillful and courageous. Filipinos always fight the best way they can.)

Harry has ironed out his game plan for his second stint at the Olympics. “Alam ko na yung strategy ko at pag-iigihan ko pa lalo yung training ko para mas magaling yung laban ko,” he quipped. (I’ve mapped out my strategy and I will exert more effort in my training so I could put up an excellent fight.)

Beyond his victories in the boxing ring, Harry’s main success is making his family happy and proud. The Olympic hopeful says that he is happy whenever his wife and two kids are happy. “Importante sa kin yung suporta ng pamilya ko dahil sila yung nagbibigay sa kin ng inspirasyon.” (The support of my family is important because they serve as my inspiration.) Harry shares that he doesn’t want his kids to get into boxing as much as possible, “Ayokong masaktan sila, pero kung gusto talaga nila susuportahan ko pa rin sila.” (I don’t want my kids to get hurt, but if that’s what they really want to do, then I would still support them.)

When he is not training or preparing for a big meet, Harry enjoys his time with his wife and kids, “Namamasyal kami sa mall kasama yung mga bata.” (We go to the mall with the kids.)

Aside from his twice-daily boxing training under his coach, Patricio Gaspi, Harry works on his strength and technique by jogging, going to the gym, practicing sparring, free sparring and technique sparring. “Ginagawa ko yung lahat ng makakaya ko sa training para maging matagumpay ako sa Olympics kasi di lang ‘to para sakin. Para ito sa pamilya ko at sa bansa.” (I am doing my best with in training so that I could be successful in the Olympics. All my efforts aren’t just for me. This is for my family and my country.)

The future looks good for Harry and he is very optimistic. “Kung kaya ni Pacquiao, kaya ko din at hangga’t kaya ng katawan ko, sige lang.” (If Pacquiao can do it, I can too and as long as my body still allows it, I’ll keep on fighting.

After the Olympics, Harry will gear up for the Southeast Asian Games slated in 2009.

Despite his modesty and unassuming demeanor, this light flyweight boxer, son, husband and father is a true giant who deserves to be in the roster of Filipino boxing greats. He has so many things to be proud of - a happy family who loves him and gives him all out support, a nation rallying behind him and of course, a winning quick punch and jab.

Being the 5th of nine siblings, Harry’s interest in boxing was sparked when he was 19 through the influence of his older brothers who were also boxers in their town. His serious training only began in 1999 when he was 21 years old. He competed in the National Open and in the Philippine National Games in Zamboanga.

WELCOME to the Harry Tañamor odyssey.

The light-flyweight boxer has seen it all. Been to the top of the world early in the decade. Seen his reputation fade in a series of hard-luck moments. And lately, gotten back up as the lone star of RP amateur boxing, literally the only boxer in these Olympics.

“I am on a mission, and I’m working doubly hard to achieve it,” Tañamor said while training in Baguio City some weeks before the Games begins.

The odds look heavily stacked against the Zamboanga City-raised fighter. Or moreover, against a country that eats and breathes boxing.

For the first time since the 1960 Rome Games, there is only one Filipino boxer in the Olympics.
If the Games from that time to 2004 featured multiple RP boxers and not one of them has been able to bring home a gold medal, how can just one fighter better the country’s chances this time?
“I don’t think it will be easy,” Tañamor said. “But I know that I am training hard and praying that the luck of the draw will bounce my way so I could win the gold for the country.”

On the upside, however, if there’s one boxer who is a safe bet to go all the way, it’s Tañamor.
He is a regular fixture at the World Championships, winning the bronze twice (in 2001 in Belfast and 2003 in Bangkok) and the silver last year in Chicago.

In 2002, Tañamor secured the silver medal in the Asian Games in Busan, Korea. In the Southeast Asian Games in 2003 and 2005, he won the gold medal, also in the light-flyweight (under-48kilogram) classes.

In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Tañamor came into the Games a heavy favorite to win the gold medal but he never made it past the round of 16. He defeated a Tajikistan (17-12) in the preliminary stage before he was routed 45-25 by a Korean in the next phase.

But Tañamor seemed to have a glimpse of the crossroads after Greece. In 2006, he was belatedly scrapped from the team that was supposed to go to the Asian Games after allegedly incurring team infractions that included failing to attend training and international tournaments. Tañamor insisted he was sick and his failure to meet team commitments didn’t have anything to do with what many perceived was attitude-related.

To compound matters, Tañamor was eliminated unceremoniously in the national championships in 2007, an event he was expected to dominate.

“It wasn’t an easy time for me,” Tanamor said. “I trained from sunrise to sunset to show to people that even if I wasn’t part of the team, I was still ready whenever they needed me.”
That proved an invaluable mindset come the Chicago Worlds in November. He defeated an opponent from Wales, Tajikistan, the US, and Thailand in that order to enter the light-flyweight finals where he lost to Olympic-gold favorite Zhou Shimin of China. (That silver finish tied the best finish by a Filipino in the tournament behind Roel Velasco’s runner-up placing in the 1997 Worlds.)

Anybody who has any doubts about Tañamor’s chances in Beijing only needs to read the Olympic preview of Sports Illustrated which forecasts a bronze finish for Tañamor.

But the veteran fighter knows his country wants more than a third-place finish.

“The Olympics is an entirely different game. It depends on who is hungrier and who wants it more,” he said. “Everybody there is well-prepared, but I will make sure that I am more determined that anybody else.”

Mary Antoinette Rivero Profile

AGE: 20 years old

SPORT: Women’s 68kg, taekwondo

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Two-time OlympianMEDALS: Gold medalist, Southeast Asian Games 2005 and ’03 Silver medal, Asian Games 2006

She was just four years old, watching her two older brothers in the sidelines while they did their ‘poomsae’ (or forms) and sparring during their Taekwondo training. Today at 20, Mary Antoinette Rivero or Toni as she is called, is no longer a mere spectator. She is now at the center of all the action. All eyes will be on Toni at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, her second stint at the most-awaited Summer Games, having participated as the youngest competitor in Athens last 2004.

Toni is determined to do the best she can in the upcoming Olympics. “This year, being my second time at the Olympic games, I plan to surpass what I reached in Athens and to do this, it’s important to be positive, determined, focused and patient.” Toni made it into the finals in the 2004 Olympic games when she was just 16 years old.

The 5 foot 8 Olympian has conditioned her mind into winning. “One of the best attitudes of Filipino athletes that I’ve observed is the fact that we won’t leave without putting up a good fight. Filipinos are also known for being brave and driven with an unmatched fighting spirit.”

Toni’s positive disposition most probably comes from the unwavering support she gets from her family. She adds, “Knowing that my parents and family support me is really a big factor in my performance.”

Athleticism definitely runs in the Rivero family. Toni’s mom and dad were both into martial arts while her two older brothers are national Taekwondo team members as well. “I love Taekwondo especially with my family’s influence. If my sport wasn’t Taekwondo, I’d still stick with martial arts,” said Toni with conviction.

Having siblings who are also part of the national team proved to be an advantage for Toni. “My brothers share their techniques and help me in my training.” The normal training schedule for Toni consists of three sparring trainings per day, one in the morning, one before lunch and one at night. She also lifts weights and runs for added strength and agility.

The support of the Filipino people is an added motivation for our athletes as attested by Toni. During the Manila SEA Games in 2005, Toni felt the added boost when she felt the support from her countrymen. “Iba pag nagko-compete ka sa home country mo, hindi lang yung athletes yung sumusuporta, pati yung Filipino people,” she enthused in the vernacular. “It’s really different when you have everybody’s support.”

At her young age, Toni has proven that one can live her dream as long as she sets her mind into it and imbibe values such as respect, patience and determination. Having mastered the way of the foot and the fist, with Toni, nothing is impossible.

ALL the hype and all the stratospheric expectations.

All the pent-up feelings of vengeance that has simmered throughout the agonizing wait in between four years and the 208 weeks between Athens and Beijing spent training, wisening up, toughening up and training more.

All of them come down to just one day for gold-medal hopeful Toni Rivero to finally prove that word of mouth (that she can bring home the gold) and the hard work invested (to make sure that she brings home the gold) were worth it.

“If you want to dream, be sure that you will back it up with hard work to turn it into reality,” Rivero said. “And that’s what I’ve been doing. Now, I know something good awaits me in the Olympics.”

The hype has been unbelievable almost to the point that nothing short of a gold will be a disappointment.

“I have not seen her lose,” Philippine Olympic Committee president Cojuangco said. “She is very determined for this Olympics. She is young and I don’t see any weakness in her.”

“I have strong feelings that with the way Tshomlee Go and Toni, we have good chances of winning the gold,” Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez gushed.

“We have prepared Tshomlee and Toni to win medals… of any color. They are prepared to win,” Philippine Taekwondo Association president Robert Aventajado declared.

In terms of skills and mindset, Rivero could be the Olympic messiah the country has been waiting for some 84 years, somebody who can win and who more importantly, knows that she can.

“I can handle anybody,” said Rivero. “Save for one Korean, I know I can beat anybody. Let’s just hope that I would not meet her early on so I would have a good chance of reaching the medal round.”

Rivero’s body of work speaks for itself. She was a round short of entering the gold-medal game in the 2004 Athens Olympics. She copped the welterweight title in the ’05 Southeast Asian Games (sandwiched between her first SEA Games gold in the ’03 Vietnam Games and a silver in the ’07 Thailand edition). She was a win away from seizing the gold in the ’06 Doha Asiad.
It’s just that Rivero seemed always near yet just a punch or a kick or two away from sealing ultimate glory.

While experts believe Rivero’s medal chances are good, there’s such a thing as getting the benefit of the draw in Olympic competition. Officials will draw out the competitors to fill out the brackets and the participants will find out who their likely opponents are from the first round to the gold-medal round.

Meeting the event favorites is inevitable but an even-chanced fighter will prefer to face them later in the tournament and not early on when a quick ouster is possible. That’s where the proverbial luck of the draw comes in.

For Rivero, she would rather face reigning world champion Hwang Kyung Seon of Korea later on.
“If luck of the draw bounces off my way, a medal is already in the bag,” Rivero said. “I know who my opponents will be and I am aware of their capabilities.”

Rivero still recalls her loss in the 2004 Olympics like it was happening right in front of her. “The Athens Games were tough. I know I can beat the Greek opponent anytime, but all my hits were not given credit. I did everything but nothing went right.”She may not have a shot at getting back at the same foe but she has a chance of accomplishing something even greater: win a medal and perhaps that oh-so-oh elusive gold medal for the Philippines.

Ryan Arabejo Profile

AGE: 18 years old

SPORT: Men’s 1,500m freestyle

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: 1st-time Olympian

MEDALS: Three-gold winner, 2007 Southeast Asian Games Most outstanding athlete, 2005 Philippine National Games

ONE of the challenges that a teenage athlete faces is balancing his time between training and studying.

Ryan Arabejo, a scholar athlete in a university in Florida, knows he needs to adjust to that situation, especially if one is dependent of the other.

“I’d be the first to admit that it’s difficult. But I know it’s something you have to do to succeed,” said Arabejo, one of the five members of the RP swim team that is a mixture of veterans and first-time Olympians.

Despite debuting in the Games, Arabejo isn’t new to top-level competition

As a 15-year-old in 2005, Arabejo dominated the Palarong Pambansa, winning six gold medals and emerging as the national youth games most outstanding athlete.

Later in the same year, he entered the national consciousness by taking the bronze in the 1,500-m freestyle in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.

In 2006, Arabejo continued his rise to elite status after being called on to join the Asian Games. He competed in the 100m backstroke and the 400m freestyle and he was part of the 4x200 freestyle-relay team that entered the finals.

He returned to the SEA Games in December 2007, emerging as the champion the 200m backstroke, 400m medley relay and 1,500m freestyle and taking the bronze in the 400m freestyle.

Arabejo got a ticket to Beijing after clocking 15 minutes and 39.86 seconds in the 1,500m-free event in the 2007 International Swimming Federation world championships in Melbourne, a time that was way within the Olympic qualifying standard and way faster than the previous record set by Olympic teammate Miguel Molina (15:47.36).

In the Janet Evans Invitational held in July 2007, Arabejo re-established a second Philippine record after timing three minutes and 58.51 seconds in the 400m freestyle.

In Beijing, Arabejo will be rubbing elbows with the greats in the game like Australian Grant Hackett and American Larsen Jensen.

Not a bad way for events to unfold for a youngster who only wanted to cure an illness the first time he dipped his toes into pool.

“No one really knew that I would take the sport seriously,” Arabejo said. “My mother just wanted me to swim to prevent my severe asthma as the doctors advised. And seeing that I enjoyed the sport, she decided to let me and my sister play competitively,” he added.
Sergio Lopez, a former Olympic swimming champion, validated Arabejo’s high skill level.
“He could have a breakout year this year,” Arabejo’s coach said in the swim group’s media presentation prior to their Beijing flight.

“This year has the fastest swimmers in the history of the Olympics,” Mark Joseph, the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association president, said.

“All I am hoping for is for them to go out there and have fun. We’re not really after the medals. We’re after the valuable experience which they would gain.”

Arabejo couldn’t agree more.

“What we are targeting is for all of us to have a solid time in Beijing. I am pretty optimistic that I would have a good swim.”

Christel Simms Profile

AGE: 17 years old

SPORT: Women’s 50m and 100m freestyle

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: First-time Olympian

MEDALS: RP record-holder, women’s 50m and 100m 1st RP lady to compete in both freestyle events in 20 years

THE future of Philippine swimming is getting her baptism of fire on the world’s biggest stage.
And Christel Simms, who will represent the country for the first time in an international tournament, isn’t fazed.

“I truly feel honored,” the Hawaii-born teenager said. “As a young athlete, competing against the best of the world, the Olympics is just like a dream. Now, it’s already here for me to conquer.”
The country hasn’t seen a woman swimmer in multiple Olympiads since Akiko Thomson, a 3-time Olympian, hung up her swim cap in 1996.

That could end with Simms, a half-Filipina discovered by the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association in one of the federation’s intensive talent scouting abroad.

Simms’ resume speaks loudly for itself. Before being eyed by Philippine swim officials, she was already in the US national junior swimming team that competed in two editions of the Junior Pan-Pacific Games.

In the 2007 National US Junior Nationals in Indianapolis, Simms surpassed the Olympic standard time by clocking 57.17 seconds in the 100m freestyle. In the 2008 Stanford Grand Prix, she registered 26.31 seconds in the 50m freestyle.

Both performances gave Simms slots in the two events at the Olympics. And judging by existing records, Simms’ times are the new Philippine marks, surpassing, yes, Thomson’s numbers in the 50m (set in 1989) and the 100m (set in 1992).

“Christel has a bright future ahead,” PASA president Mark Joseph, also former national coach to Thomson, said. “She’s still young and could work on the rough edges of her game. She’s a project for the 2012 Olympics.”

Joseph only has praises for Simms’ talent level—and probably her mother’s disposition.

Reports had it that USA Swimming was dogged determined to get Simms on its national pool but Simms’ mother Jocelyn, who was raised in Cavite province, had the final say. The Philippine would win out.

Simms’ first time to wear the Sun and Stars was in the International Swimming Federation World Championship last April in Manchester, England.

“It was a sudden twist of fate,” Simms said. “I have always been dreaming to represent the Philippines and now, this chance has arrived. I couldn’t be any happier.”

“Though my friends and classmates were swimming for the US, I am proud to swim for my own country,” she added.

Simms has trained intensively under long-time coach Scott Sherwood who has been teaching Simms since she was nine. If things work out the way she hopes, Simms won’t be the only one feeling proud about being a Filipino. The country she has begun to embrace will learn to love her back as well.

“I always love where I came from,” Simms gushed.

“I will be going to the Olympics not as a Hawaiian, but as a Filipina who wants to make my home country proud. My goal is to swim as fast as I could and go out there to enjoy this once-in-a lifetime Olympic experience.”

If things work out better, the once-in-a-lifetime feeling in the Beijing Games may have a repeat in London.

James Walsh Profile

AGE: 21 years old

SPORT: Men’s 200m butterfly

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Two-time Olympian

MEDALS: Two-gold winner, 200m butterfly SEA Games 2007 and ’05 Philippine record-holder, 100m and 200m butterfly

JAMES BERNARD WALSH is facing long odds in the Olympics. But while he and his swim teammates want to keep their chances real, that isn’t stopping Walsh from wanting to meet his own modest goals.

“I know, just like any other ordinary game, an Olympic upset can also happen,” Walsh said. “I just hope this year will be better than 2004.”

In the Athens Games, Walsh fell short of his target, finishing his favorite event, the 200-meter butterfly, at fourth place in the heats and 37th out of 39 competitors overall. Even the time he registered couldn’t better a previous mark he set in the same event, a result that disheartened Walsh and his colleagues

If his road back to the Olympics is any indication, Walsh is ready to put that glum experience behind him.

In the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, Walsh, 21, won the gold in the 200m fly besides the bronze he secured as part of the RP quartet in the 4x100 medley race.

In the 2006 Asian Games, he made it to the finals in three of four events he joined including in the 200m butterfly, the men’s 40x100 medley relay and the 4x200 freestyle relay.

In the 2007 SEA Games, Walsh defended his title in the 200 fly, won a gold in the 4x100 medley relay, and took a silver in the 100m fly and the 4x100m freestyle.

“My goal is to make it to the semifinals [in the Olympics],” Walsh said. “Winning will be very hard, but I have to catch up. My goal is to defeat myself and improve on my personal time from Athens.”

An active sportsman who plays basketball, baseball, fencing, soccer, table tennis, and racquetball and engages in diving, Walsh is one of a handful of US-raised Filipino swimmers that the country has been tapping to represent it in international tournaments.

Walsh also used to be an avid taekwondo practitioner, earning a second-degree black belt in the US age-group championships in 1996.

A premedicine graduate of the University of Florida, Walsh said he will take up internship in orthopedic surgery before he gets into medicine proper, a decision that was influenced by his American father, a clinical cardiac electrophysiology in Jacksonville and Orange Country.
But Walsh’s plans had to be put on hold after he was given another chance to make it back to the Olympics.

In July 2007, Walsh ended up in the top 10 in the FINA USA Senior National Swimming Championships held in Indiana. His time of two minutes and .42 seconds broke both the Philippine and the Southeast Asian records and gave him passage to Beijing.

The Philippine Amateur Swimming Association lauded Walsh’s finish.

“He’s a smart swimmer, and he’s the kind of swimmer who’s going to go for it even if you don’t push him,” PASA president Mark Joseph said.

“He’s easy to be underestimated but his event is a technique race. Pwede siyang manggulat diyan,” he added.

Even Walsh was impressed.

“That was incredible. At least, I gained a slot back to the Olympics. I’m just happy to represent the country once again.”

Daniel Coakley Profile

AGE: 18 years old

SPORT: Men’s 50m freestyle

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: 1st-time Olympian

MEDALS: Two-gold winner, SEA Games 2007 Philippine record-holder, 50m freestyle

HE was called a virtual unknown before December 2007. But all it took for Daniel Coakley to get into the national spotlight was a splashing showing in the Thailand Southeast Asian Games.

Coakley’s “Hello, world!” entry was as sudden as it was stunning.

With the impending retirement of Miguel Molina, the search for a new breed of RP swimmers has begun. And it may begin with Coakley.

“I’m very inspired,” Coakley said. “I waited and prepared hard for this. I really believe we could win with the kind of preparation we had. It was very intense.”

Coakley can actually win on genes alone, if there’s such a thing. His grandfather is Teofilo Yldefonso, a two-time Olympian who joined the 1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles, and the 1936 Berlin Games. Until now, Yldefonso is the only multiple Olympic medalist in Philippine history, taking home the bronze medals in ’28 and ’32.

Yldefonso’s Olympic bloodline has come full circle with Coakley’s entry in Beijing. But Coakley wants to have what his lolo has. Maybe even more.

“My long-term goal is for the country to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming,” Coakley said, “and hopefully, I could achieve it faster than anybody else.”

Like RP Olympic teammate Ryan Arabejo, Coakley is being groomed for the big time in the 2012 London Olympics, with the Beijing Games simply a springboard for that.

“The fundamentals and the discipline are already there in Daniel,” said Spain-born Sergio Lopez, Coakley as well as Arabejo’s coach.

“I know that with the way Daniel is performing right now, there will be more Olympic appearances for him. He may not win it now, but I’m pretty sure he will win an Olympic medal soon.”

Coakley, who was born to a Hawaii-raised father and a Filipina mother, appears to be on the right track.

In the 2007 SEA Games, he shattered the Philippine record in 50m freestyle. He won two golds—one in the 50m freestyle and another as part of the 4x100 medley relay. And he registered two eye-popping times (22.8 seconds and 23.08 seconds) that were well within the Olympic qualifying standards and essentially gave him a berth in the Olympics.

“I really didn’t expect to qualify. Then I saw my mentor Pinky Brosas screaming, ‘You made it. You’re going to the Olympics.’ I really couldn’t believe it,” the six-foot-one Coakley said.

“What Daniel did was awesome. That was all pure talent. Even some of his coaches fell of their seats when they saw what Daniel did,” Brosas gushed.

Prior to the Olympics Coakley, who graduated from high school recently, left his mark in the state of Hawaii, owning the swim records in three age brackets.

To prepare for Beijing, Coakley trained extensively with teammates Arabejo and JB Walsh in Florida. Lopez, also a former Olympian, revealed nothing but good news.

“Daniel has a solid chance in the next four years,” Lopez admitted. “He is definitely one of the future swimming greats of his country. All he needs is to get the proper guidance to get to that point.”

Eric Ang Profile

AGE: 37 years old

SPORT: Shooting, men’s

EXPERIENCE: 1st-time Olympian

MEDALS: Bronze medalist, Southeast Asian Games 2005 and ’07 Three-time participant, Asian Games 1998, ’02 and ’06

ONE of Eric Ang’s closest buddies surely knows a lot about the sport of shooting. And in terms of Olympic participation and the expectations of it, Ang’s friend is somebody who’s soaked up on the rare experience, somebody who Ang, the lone RP shooter in the China Olympiad, can talk to about the possibilities in Beijing.

“I’ve been friends with Jethro I think since I started shooting,” Ang said, referring to Jethro Dionisio the country’s Olympic shooter in the 2002 Athens Games.

“All he says to me is to just have fun and do my best. He’s helped me with some of my techniques, what needs to be done to come up with a good finish. And I’ve been listening to him and hopefully things work out well for me,” he added.

Ang, like his sport, hasn’t enjoyed mainstream attention but RP shooters have been delivering the goods in international competition and for a time, on the Olympic stage.

Since 1932, the country failed to send a shooter to the Olympics only once (in 1988).

Filipino shooters used to participate in the Olympics in bunches, a batch of seven or eight of them competing in one Olympiad (the most being nine in the 1964 Tokyo Games).

Martin Gison, a versatile shooter who was adept with the pistol and the rifle, owns the record for the most Olympic participations by a Filipino (with five). In the 1936 Berlin Games, Gison, then 22 years old, finished fourth in the men’s 50m prone-position small-bore rifle event, one of the closest Filipino shooters have been to winning a medal.

The number of RP Olympic shooters has fallen drastically since that era but because it is a sport that doesn’t expose the Filipino’s normally small physique (that’s proven to be disadvantageous in other sports), shooting can be considered a potential source of Olympic gold.

“[Winning] the gold medal is very possible,” Ang, 37, said. “I’ve always been waiting for this opportunity. For me, the gold medal in Beijing is just within reach.”

Ang, like Dionisio, started as a practical shooter in 1989. Wanting to make it to the Olympics, Ang shifted to trap shooting in 1996. Since then, he’s starred in three Asian Games and six Southeast Asian Games.

His most recent accolades on the SEA Games level are a couple of bronze medals (men’s trap in 2005 and with Dionisio and Carlos Carag in men’s trap team event in 2007).

Last year, Ang missed the qualifying mark for the Olympics by just a few points during the Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait. And in the pre-Olympic shooting tournament in Beijing held last April 12-20, he placed only 24th among 92 participants.

But on the strength of his performance in those two events, Ang, a full-time businessman who handles distribution of LPG tanks, received a wild-card berth to the Olympics from the International Shooting Sport Federation.

Ang also appeared in the Germany and Serbia and Montenegro legs of the ISSF-backed World Cup in June. In Germany, he broke the RP record by firing 121 out of 125 birds to place seventh in a strong field of 87 participants. (The previous record was 119.)

Weeks before he flew off to Beijing, Ang was practicing in his shooting range in Laoag City.“I didn’t expect I would shoot that well. That was a breakthrough for me,” Ang said about his performance in Germany. “In that event, I realized that I could also stand up and compete against the best of the world.”

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.”

Heidilyn Diaz Profile

AGE: 17 years old

SPORT: Women’s weightlifting, 58kilogram category

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: 1st-time Olympian 1st RP Olympic weightlifter since 1988 Youngest RP athlete in Beijing

JUST last March, Heidilyn Diaz reached a milestone in her life. She walked up the stage with her batchmates to celebrate their high-school graduation.

In August, Diaz will march with the rest of the world to celebrate the Greatest Show on Earth.

A segment out of the Wish Ko Lang TV program for the 17-year-old lass from Zamboanga City, isn’t it?

“Every athlete has been dreaming of making it to the Olympics,” Diaz, the country’s lone Olympic weightlifter, said. “I am just lucky enough to achieve it at this very young age.”
Diaz’s regimen, considered not the usual kind girls her age take, proves hard work, not luck, thrust her into the Olympic limelight—a regimen that includes regular visits to the gym and, yes, lifting massive weights.

The Olympic dream was always in Diaz’s mind, but the original projection was getting to the London Games in 2012. It’s just that Diaz’s learning curve has become so steep she couldn’t be denied a ticket in Beijing.

Starting out in the Universidad de Zamboanga and in the Batang Pinoy national youth games, Diaz blossomed into a real force that had the national team noticing. She made it to the Asian Games in Doha in 2006 and then in the Southeast Asian Games last December in Thailand where she secured third place in the 58kg category.

Diaz’s mark of 80kg in the snatch and 100kg in the clean and jerk category in the her weight division are Philippine records.

The national federation took note of Diaz’s progress and potential that when a chance at fielding an Olympic wild card came up, the Philippine Weightlifting Association didn’t hesitate to list down Diaz’s name as a candidate.

While she is giddy about the opportunity, Diaz is realistic about her chances.

“Honestly, winning the medal is not going to be easy for somebody like me. But who knows, things might get better,” Diaz, currently a computer-science freshman, admitted. “Like other sports, weightlifting is unpredictable. So my goal now is to improve my game.”

Diaz admitted that she felt nervous when she found out she was going to the Olympics, but when the news had finally sunk in she realized the magnitude of the rare experience.

“I’m still young and I have all the time to prepare and improve, if not this year, maybe in the next Olympics,” she added.

Diaz said she has undergone a most stringent training in order to prepare for the Olympics. She was lifting 14 sessions a week that didn’t include the other exercises necessary to keep her fit. Not only has she developed a more fit physique, Diaz has also gained the kind of confidence necessary to challenge the world’s best.

“I’ve trained well and everybody around me has been intense,” Diaz said. “There’s some pressure I know, but I was thinking that if I continued on this regimen, something good will surely happen eventually.”

“She has a lot of potential,” Ramon Solis, Diaz’s coach who was the last RP lifter to appear in the Olympics, said.

“The Beijing trip will surely make her a better athlete and we are really targeting the next Olympics to win a medal.”

Tshomlee Go Profile

AGE: 27 years old
SPORT: Men’s taekwondo, under-67kilogram category

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Two-time Olympian

MEDALS: Two-time Southeast Asian Games champion Bronze medalist, 2007 World Championships

27-year old Taekwondo Jin, Tshomlee Go is one of the country’s best bets for the first-ever, much coveted Olympic gold. Getting to the Olympics wasn’t one of Tshomlee’s goals at first, but his natural talent made him worthy to take part in the world’s most prestigious sporting event. The 2008 Beijing Olympics will be Tshomlee’s second trip to the Olympics, having competed in Athens in 2004.

Taekwondo goes beyond being a sport to Tshomlee, it’s actually a family thing. His father and two brothers used to be members of the Philippine National Taekwondo team. And at the age of seven, Tshomlee’s love for Taekwondo began.

Although his interest started when he was young, his strong desire to compete began the moment he saw his older brother on television competing at the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei.

Fueled by his desire, discipline, dedication and love for the sport, Tshomlee sparred his way to a winning streak. “Importante talagang mahal mo yung sport pati yung full commitment ng athlete.” (Love for your sport is very important as well as the athletes’s full commitment to it.)

Tshomlee, along with fellow Taekwondo Jin and Olympian, Toni Rivero, trains twice a day from Monday to Friday. Tshomlee says he sacrifices a lot to train, but everything is worth it. “Walang time masyado para sa gimik at konti lang para sa pahinga pero kailangan talaga yung training.” (There’s not much time for going out and little time for rest, but training is really essential.)

Other than sparring training, Tshomlee puts gravity on mental preparation for an excellent performance in this year’s Olympics. He is more optimistic about his second trip to the games this August. “Mas mature na yung laro ko ngayon. Alam ko na yung diskarte ko.” (My game is more mature now compared to before. I already have a strategy in mind.) He adds, “I’m more excited about the Olympics this time since I’m already familiar with the flow.”

Tshomlee is far from how he was when he started out as a member of the national team. “Noon, ginagawan ko talaga ng paraan para makarating lang ako sa gym. Maraming excuse, pero kung gusto mo talaga, gagawa at gagawa ka ng paraan para makuha mo yun.” (I used to do everything in my capacity just so I could get to the gym for training. There are a lot of excuses, but if you really want something, you’ll find a way to achieve it.) The opportunities for Tshomlee started pouring in when he became a class A athlete. He was even financially independent when he started college.

The bemedalled Taekwondo Jin dedicates his performance in every competition to his family, to his loved ones, to the country and to God. “My family and all the people who support me provide me the encouragement even when I’m burnt out.” The Olympian also believes that all his skills and talents come from God.

fter the Olympics, Tshomlee plans to teach Taekwondo to kids and maybe join the US navy just like his father, who used to serve for the Philippine Marines.

The thrill and challenge of Taekwondo keeps Tshomlee up on his feet. With his great love for the sport, complemented by his lightning fast kicks and spars, Tshomlee is well on his way to bringing honor to the country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

TSHOMLEE GO couldn’t believe it.

He found himself sitting next to Chinese superstar Yao Ming inside an internet café in Athens during the 2004 Olympic Games.

Four years later, Go admitted he is still awed by the Olympic experience. But in Beijing, he said he wants to leave an impression on the world as well.

“Let’s see,” Go, half of the two-member Olympic taekwondo team, responded when asked how good his chances are.

“I have nothing to guarantee, but just a good fight all throughout,” he added.

Go will compete in the men’s light flyweight category. He knows everything else surrounding his stint in these Games—his second Olympics—will be heavy. That includes the presumption that he has one of the better chances of clinching a medal. Not just any medal but the gold medal.

“I will just go out there to compete and win,” Go said. “I know how prepared I am and how much I wanted to win.”

There’s certainly motivation from within. In Athens, Go never got past the first round after he fell to a Spaniard in what Team Philippines called at the time “a robbery”.

“It was clearly his fight,” Go’s 2004 coach Jesus Morales III said after the loss. “He dominated the fight and instead of getting the breaks with the calls, it was his opponent.”

Go, an education major at the University of Santo Tomas, slowly but surely got up on his feet.
In 2005, Go won the gold medal in the under-67kg category in the Manila Southeast Asian Games. In 2007, he defended the same championship and emerged the only Filipino gold winner in taekwondo in the Thailand SEA Games.

During the World Championships held in the same year in Manchester, Go took home a bronze to secure a return trip to the Olympics. There, he went through the proverbial needle’s eye, pulling off close victories in the early rounds before succumbing 15-0 to a Taiwanese opponent in the semifinals.

“Until now, I think about my performance in Manchester,” Go said. “That was one of a kind. I hope I could duplicate that in the Olympics.”

Those waiting for him in Beijing include Athens champion Mu Yen-Chu (the jin from Chinese-Taipei who beat Go in Manchester) and Juan Antonio Ramos (the Spaniard who eliminated Go in the Greece Olympiad).

The Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) personally visited Go and teammate Toni Rivero during their training in Korea and the national federation reported good news.

“The way they’ve been training, I would say that they have a good chance to win an Olympic gold," PTA president Robert Aventajado told reporters upon arriving in Manila.

Go said he feels good about the Korea sojourn that lasted more than a month.

“Nothing beats preparation,” Go stressed. “I know who to avoid, but when I have no other choice but to face them, I will give them a good fight and let’s see what happens next. “The exposure I got in 2004 has been helping me big-time. I am pretty excited.”

Sheila Mae Perez Profile

AGE: 22 years old

SPORT: Diving, 3-meter springboard

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: Two-time Olympian

MEDALS: Three-gold winner, 2005 Southeast Asian Games Gold winner, 2007 Southeast Asian Games

SHEILA MAE PEREZ has come a long way since her humble beginnings in Davao City.

“Everything has come as a surprise,” Perez said. “I really didn’t expect that I would come this far. I just hope that God will give me the strength to compete and win for our country.”

It’s a shame that diving, one of the sports most suitable to the Filipino’s physique, isn’t getting much publicity. Otherwise the country would have been made aware of the heights athletes like Perez have attained.

This is the second time Perez has made it on sports’ biggest stage. At 14 and with barely any competitive exposure in the international scene, she was the youngest RP team member and the youngest diver overall in the 2000 Olympics.

Eight years after and Perez’s recent feats have given her a more substantial distinction. She won three gold medals in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games. She won another in the next Games in 2007.

In the Manila SEA Games, she was one of a handful of Filipinos who secured multiple gold medals, winning the 3-meter springboard, synchronized 3-meter springboard and the 1-meter springboard.

In the FINA World Cup last February, Perez placed a lofty 17th out of some 100 competitors in the 3-meter springboard event, a finish that was enough to give her a second Olympic ticket.
“I was just 14 years old [during the Sydney Olympics],” Perez recalled. “And I promised myself that I will win an Olympic medal when I reach the peak of my career. I guess this is the perfect time for me to do it.”

If she does that, Perez’s story will be one of the most compelling feel-good stories in RP sports.
In a webcast interview that is shown on its web site, Reuters revealed that Perez used to dive from cargo ships to retrieve scrap metal.

Perez said her indigent background has been a prime motivating factor.

“Athletes who come from poverty are used to grinding work and physical sacrifice,” she shared in the interview. “We’re determined because this is our way to move up.”

“I think Sheila Mae’s story is proof of how sports can help people improve on their lives and fulfill their dreams,” Mark Joseph, president of the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association (PASA), said. “She is so committed to excel and she has a dignity about herself and that’s something that works to her advantage.”

“But through all her success, she has remained humble.”

“It will definitely be a tough field [in Beijing], but it is still anybody’s game,” said Perez who has trained in China and recently at the PASA facilities in Los Baños, Laguna.

“I am banking on my skills and the preparations I’ve made all throughout the year. I will just go out there and try to have fun.” When asked why he thought Perez and fellow diver Rexel Fabrega should be on the gold-medal radar despite stiff odds from China’s powerhouse squad, Joseph said anything can happen in their event.“The Chinese will be hard to beat but our goal is to crack the semis, which will have 12 names. Making the semifinals is our goal and if we can do that, well, anything goes.”

Ryan Fabriga Profile

AGE: 22 years old

SPORT: Diving, 10m platform

OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: First-time Olympian

MEDALS: Two-gold winner, SEA Games 2003 One-gold winner, SEA Games 2005 and ‘07

THE only reason why Ryan Rexel Fabriga decided to leave his family in the province was he figured getting a career in the Big City would help to alleviate their condition.

Nearly 10 years since coming to Manila from Zamboanga province where he was born, Fabriga has achieved more than his initial objective by becoming one of the most prolific divers in RP sports history.

“I was just a kid swimming with my friends along the shores when a coach came to our place,” Fabriga recalled. “He called on some of us and he asked us to watch a tape about diving and we gave it a try.”

One of the countrywide “discoveries”, Fabriga went on to polish his skills at the Trace Aquatics Center, the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association’s (PASA) top-of-the-line infrastructure in Laguna province.

As part of arguably the most prolific batch of divers in RP sports history, Fabriga joined such names like Sheila Mae Perez and the Domenios siblings who has gone on to win top competitions abroad.

Fabriga’s time to shine came in 2003 when he won two gold medals (in the 10-meter platform single and synchronized) in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games.

In 2005, Fabriga was part of the duo that won the 10m synchronized platform event, a victory that was one of handful in diving that essentially thrust the sport into the national limelight in the Manila SEA Games.

In the 2007 SEA Games, Fabriga returned to the 10m synchronized platform and defended successfully the championship in Thailand.

In the Asian Games in 2002 in Korea, Fabriga ranked fourth in the 10m individual platform and fifth in the 10m synchronized platform. Four years later in the Doha Asiad, Fabriga finished sixth in the individual and fourth in the synchronized events.

In the World Cup backed by the International Aquatics Federation held last February in China, Fabriga finished fourth in the 10m platform to snatch an Olympic berth. After qualifying, Fabriga has trained extensively in the PASA facilities in Laguna and abroad in Guangzhou, China.

Fabriga’s been in and around Asia since he began his career in diving. He won’t be too far away when he competes in Beijing but the kind of competition Fabriga will face is eons away from what he’s been used to.

“I was really so surprised to get the Olympic berth,” he said. “It was already the last day of the competition but I still managed to win an Olympic slot.”

“I had a very disappointing performance in the first day, only to finish fourth overall in the final day. It was a special day for me,” Fabriga, the eldest in a brood of five, added.

Asked to describe his prized ward, Mark Joseph said Fabriga’s personality is a contrast to the other Filipino Olympic diver Sheila Mae Perez.

“Ryan tends to be quiet, almost with a kind of rebellious attitude,” the PASA president said. “That’s why diving with all its intricacies, gives Ryan a sense structure. When he’s given a chance to perform, he doesn’t quit.”

“My goal is for Ryan and Sheila to enter the finals at the Olympics,” China-born RP coach Zhang Deju said in a Reuters report. “That is my hope. It is a very daring plan as the Philippines is a small country and it was not very long ago that it started in diving sports.”

Fabriga is all good for Zhang’s plans.“I just want to be in the top 12,” he said. “If that happens, then it will be safe for me to think about the Olympic medal.”

Mark Javier Profile

AGE: 26 years old
SPORT: Men’s individual competition, archery
OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: 1st-time Olympian
MEDALS: Gold medalist, Southeast Asian Games 2005 National record holder, highest score in men’s individual event

HE originally wanted to be a target shooter. That means Mark Javier’s aspiration hasn’t changed. Only his weapons have.

“It was something that I always dreamed of,” Javier said, talking about his sports-shooting inclination back in the day. “I was even a part of an air-gun club [in Dumaguete City] and I even won some tournaments there.

“But this was before I really thought shooting would be my life-long career.”

Now instead of a gun, Javier totes a bow and arrow. And his recent success internationally is indicating his change of heart was a step in the right direction.

The National Archery Association of the Philippines discovered Javier in the National open in 2001 and elevated him to the training pool in 2004.

Since being given a slot on the RP team, Javier has been to the Southeast Asian Games in 2005 and 2007. In 2005, he was part of the team that won the gold in the recurve event. Two years later, he and his teammates settled for the bronze.

In 2006, he was in the Doha Asian Games where he reached the final 16 in the individual competition and the quarterfinals in the team event.

In the Olympic qualifiers of the Asian Archery Championships held in September 2007 in China, Javier blazed through the competition, topped the event and got the ticket to the Beijing Olympiad.

He ranked sixth after the ranking phase and registered a 652, a Philippine record in men’s competition.

In the knockout stages, he won over foes from Singapore and Indonesia and then beat the third-ranked player from Japan, the no.2 player from Malaysia and the top-ranked archer from India in the last three rounds in that order to top the qualifiers.

“When I got [to the national team], I decided to take the sport more seriously. After all, like shooting, archery also requires focus and concentration,” Javier, 26, said.

In the last 12 months in the run-up to the Olympics, Javier has been active. He was in the 2007 World Championships in July in Germany, where he competed in the individual and team events and placed the highest among the Filipino archers in the individual category.

After the Olympic qualifiers in September and the SEA Games in December, Javier flew to Egypt to train in the summer.

Last May he participated in the Turkey World Cup where he made it past the ranking stages and as the 55th seed, stunned an archer from Mexico who was ranked no.10. He bowed out in the next round. In the France World Cup, his last tune-up event before the Beijing Games, Javier failed to make it to the top 64 and was ousted early.

Javier has had a history of pulling off surprises and that’s not new to Filipino archers.
Countryman Jasmin Figueroa, the country’s representative in the Athens Olympics four years ago, stunned a top-ranked foe in the knockout stages and after the Games, emerged with the best finish by a Filipino archer in Olympic history.

Javier, the former air-gunslinger, looks to shoot for the same goal, if not surpass it.
“It has been very overwhelming. But making it to the Olympics is only half the job. I still have a mission to accomplish. In this sport, I have no opponent but myself. So I always have to put my best efforts out there in order to outdo myself.”

Maristella Torres Profile

AGE: 27 years old
SPORT: Women’s long jump
OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: 1st-time Olympian
MEDALS: Two-gold winner, Southeast Asian Games 2007 and ’05 Two-time winner, Asian Grand Prix 2005

MARISTELLA TORRES officially got her ticket to the Beijing Olympics barely two months before the Games would open on August 8.

Going to her first trip to the world’s biggest stage, she surely didn’t mind the wait.

“You’ll be competing against the best in the world. All I can promise is, I will do my best. This is not for any personal goals anymore. This is for the country,” Torres said.

Torres is the latest torchbearer in a relatively long line of women long-jumpers who have done the country proud in international tournaments in the last 25 years.

Elma Muros-Posadas was the Philippine representative in the 1984 and later in the 1996 Olympics. Lerma Bulauitan-Gabito wore the tricolors in the 2004 Olympics.

And then Torres who assumed the throne not only as the best RP women’s long-jumper but also arguably as the reigning queen of Philippine athletics.

She formally took over “the reins” in 2005 when she and Bulauitan-Gabito competed in the Manila Southeast Asian Games. Bulauitan-Gabito was ready to take another long-jump gold medal after she posted a good-enough distance on her second attempt. Going for broke, Torres erased Bulauitan-Gabito’s mark on her final jump to claim her first SEA Games long-jump gold.
Later in the 2007 Thailand SEA Games, Torres ably defended her event and proved once again that she wasn’t just the Philippines’ best anymore but all of Southeast Asia as well.

“People who’ve been in the athletics community saw my potential and I think I’ve left an impression that was enough for them to say to me that I’m worth investing time and hard work on,” Torres said.

“We drew up all these plans and all these goals and I’m blessed to have be able to accomplish them and I hope I’m not letting down the people who trust me to meet their expectations,” she added.

Torres’s trip to the China Olympiad couldn’t be more poetic; she picked up her jumping skills playing the Chinese garter as an elementary student in Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental province.

To get to where she is now, Torres had to go through every competitive level—from the national youth games to college varsity at the Far Eastern University.

Besides her SEA Games exploits, Torres has trotted virtually every event in the Eastern hemisphere. She participated in the Asian Games in 2002 (in Korea) and in 2006 (in Qatar).
She won the silver in the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Korea and a two-leg gold medalist in the Asian Grand Prix of the same year.

In three Asian Grand Prix stops just last June, Torres finished progressively from fourth (in Bangkok), to third (in Korat, Thailand) to second (in Hanoi).

The International Association of Athletics Federations mandates every national federation to choose two athletes who it thinks deserves a slot in Olympics.

Without batting an eyelash, the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association picked out Torres who was fresh under an intense training under a renowned American track coach for two months in the US that ended in the last week of May.

“My first goal is to get to the finals [in the Olympics], and then let’s see what happens next,” Torres said.

“I’m slowly getting into form for Beijing. The whole US training was difficult at first but there’s no doubt I was able to get my maximum performance there. I think I’m better now than I was in the [2007] SEA Games.”

Henry Dagmil

AGE: 26 years old
SPORT: Men’s long jump
OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE: 1st-time OlympianSoutheast Asian Games record holderFirst Filipino long-jumper since 1936

WITH just a month left before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, long-jump specialist Henry Dagmil was hoping to improve on his leap.

But in doing so, he suffered a setback: a groin injury.

Like the grizzled warrior that he is, Dagmil brushed off the mishap and with the Olympics—the highest level of participation an athlete can reach—at hand, he was resolute in declaring his availability for Beijing.

“I’m feeling a lot better now. I’m ready for the Olympics,” Dagmil said, referring to the injury that he sustained while competing in a tournament held recently in Kuala Lumpur.
“I just felt that the injured area was overstretched. It’s really not that painful.”

This isn’t the kind of impediment that will frustrate Dagmil as he fulfills his Olympic dream. From a farm boy growing up in a sleepy town in South Cotobato province, Dagmil’s career shot up to prominence as a varsity athlete who starred for Mapua Institute in the National Collegiate Athletic Association then later on as an elite athlete and a regular fixture on various national squads.

Dagmil’s most notable feat came last year after he broke the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) record in long jump after he cleared a distance of 7.87 meters in the Thailand Games. The SEAG mark he previously broke? It belonged to Dagmil too, a distance of 7.83 he covered in the 2005 SEAG in Manila.

Now, it looks like Dagmil is ripe and ready for the biggest stage. The world.

But before he could get an Olympic berth, a series of events unfolded that called on the national federation to intervene.


To get to Beijing, Dagmil needed to surpass the Olympic qualifying mark of 8.05 meters. Unfortunately, the 7.99 meters that he tallied in the United States Track and Field Championship was not enough to convince the International Association of Athletics Federations that he deserved to get an Olympic slot.

The Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association wrote the international federation to appeal Dagmil’s case. The request was granted and Dagmil was given the go-signal to fly to Beijing.
“I don’t care [how I get to Beijing], as long as I will be there,” said Dagmil, who will join fellow long-jumper Maristella Torres as the country’s track-and-field bets.

“I am playing for my country and I am compelled to give the best that I can.”
It won’t be hard to get the best out of Dagmil, who has had extensive training abroad.
He was under the wings of a few US-based coaches including Jerry Cablayan, a half-Filipino coach who has trained other Filipinos abroad.

“I could stretch [Dagmil’s] jump to 8.15 meters, which is good enough for an Olympic medal,” Cablayan said. “He is very much willing to learn. In fact, he has already perfected his strokes and jumping style.”

Ranged against the best in the world, it appears Dagmil only has an outside chance. So he’s keeping his goals realistic: he just wants to prove he can beat 8.05m, the mark he could’ve achieved in Kuala Lumpur that would’ve given him an easier passage to Beijing.


“Even if I don’t win in the Olympics,” Dagmil said, “as long as I surpass it, that would already be an achievement.”