Molina sees bright future for Philippine swimming

Beijing Olympic qualifier Miguel Molina, a candidate for Athlete of the Year in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Awards Night on Feb. 16 at the SM Mall of Asia, is convinced the future is bright for Philippine swimming and pointed to Daniel Eugenio Coakley as the next Filipino superstar in the sport.

Molina, Coakley, James Walsh and Ryan Arabejo are representing the Philippines in swimming at the Olympics this summer.

“I think the brightest future lies in Daniel,” said Molina, referring to the 17-year-old Hawaii-born Fil-Am, in a recent e-mail to The Star from the US. “He has the genes and watching him swim, I am so amazed at how naturally talented he is. He is truly just raw talent, like so many other Filipino swimmers who can improve so much if their talent is honed, fine-tuned and perfected through good coaching.”

Coakley, whose mother is Filipina, is the grandnephew of Teofilo Yldefonso who bagged bronze medals for the country in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. He set a new Southeast Asian (SEA) Games record in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.8 seconds in Thailand last month. 

Molina, 23, also paid tribute to the 18-year-old Arabejo who won gold medals in the 1,500-meter freestyle and 200-meter backstroke at the SEA Games. Like Coakley, Arabejo is making his Olympic debut in Beijing.

“Ryan is also a rising star,” said Molina. “He’s young and has a wide open future. He can do anything he puts his mind to. As a distance swimmer, you know he’s really tough and can handle almost anything. Philippine swimming is in good hands in the near future.”

 Molina, who competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics with Walsh, said he’s not sure if he will still qualify beyond Beijing.

“I’ll stop swimming when there is no fun in it anymore for me,” he said. “I think I know what it takes to swim fast in short distances, 50 and 100 meters, and I think to do this, I can also hold a job. For my event right now, I need full focus on swimming. So essentially, it may be my last Olympics. But some people hit their peak in the late 20s and I’ll be 28 by London in 2012.”

Molina, who won four gold medals in the last SEA Games, will swim in the 200-meter individual medley and 200-meter breaststroke in Beijing.

As for Philippine Amateur Swimming Association (PASA) president Mark Joseph, Molina said his support has been vital in motivating him to excel.

“I think coach Mark has been really influential in helping with my funding to keep training in the US,” continued Molina. “I’m sure there are many other officials who have helped with this process but I can’t name them all. There are a lot of people working behind the scenes but coach Mark is my main contact and he’s been really good in helping me with funding.”

Joseph’s efforts will be recognized at the PSA Awards Night with PASA the unanimous choice as the Most Outstanding National Sports Association. Swimming brought in eight gold medals and diving contributed two at the recent SEA Games.

In Beijing, Molina said he’ll keep track of Michael Phelps’ times.

“The swimmer the whole world will have eyes on is Phelps in whatever event he swims in,” said Molina. “He’s probably the greatest athlete in the world, in my opinion. In Beijing, I’m looking to have fun and hopefully, swim fast. In Athens, I don’t think I had fun. I didn’t want to be pressured by the whole atmosphere and grand scale of the Olympics so I didn’t let it get to me which was bad. Now, this could be my last Olympics so I’m going to enjoy it as much as possible.”