(Part 3)
Guy Concepcion, now 47, swam in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle and the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. His older brother Lee, 48, also represented the Philippines in swimming at the Summer Games, competing in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke in 1988 and the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke and the 4x100 medley relay at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
The youngest of seven, Guy said he learned how to swim when he was four and started to compete when he was seven in 1976. “Our Mom and Dad saw that Lee and I were very comfortable in the water,” said Guy. “We were always swimming in the pool at our house so they thought that swimming could be our sport. I kind of remember my first competition. My Mom was very encouraging, saying something like, ‘wow, you almost got third place.’ That was motivation enough for me, I guess, to keep going. My Mom was really good in pushing us the right away, she was a good cook.”
Guy said his favorite event was the 200-meter individual medley where he set the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games record of 2:09.86 in Jakarta in 1987. “My sports hero growing up was Joe Montana of the San Francisco 49ers because he was so calm under pressure,” said Guy who attended La Salle Greenhills as an elementary student, Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, California, University of California-Berkeley as a student athlete and Columbia University in New York for a Master’s degree in Fine Arts, major in Film. “I never really looked to swimmers as heroes because I was always around the greats and saw them all as just one of the guys.”
Making it to the Olympics was an experience of a lifetime for Guy. “I promised myself when I got there that I would let every moment sink in, like living at the Athletes Village and seeing all the superstars from the different sports,” he said. “I enjoyed getting to watch any event for free. I also made sure to mentally record my emotions during the opening ceremonies. But I guess, the data bank was too big, my memory crashed. I did treat the actual swimming events as normally as I could because I didn’t want the Olympics to overwhelm me. I suppose that strategy worked because I swam really well.”
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In Seoul, Guy clocked 53.84 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle, 1:55.58 in the 200-meter freestyle, 2:10.37 in the 200-meter individual medley and 4:48 in the 400-meter individual medley. He finished first in heat four of the 200-meter freestyle but failed to advance.
“What I really loved about swimming with my brother in the same Olympics was Mike Barrowman, one of the favorites to win, told Lee ‘see you in the final’ which was really awesome that this guy, who eventually won the gold in ’92 and broke the world record, thought Lee was capable of making it to the top eight,” said Guy.
The year before the Seoul Games, Guy was a finalist at the Pan-Pacific Championships in Brisbane where three world record holders were also in the last eight in the 200-meter individual medley. He didn’t claim a medal but advancing to the final was a feat in itself for Guy. That same year, Guy was at his peak in collecting a gold, two silvers and three bronzes at the SEA Games in Jakarta. His gold was in the 200-meter individual medley. The silvers came in the 400-meter freestyle (4:10.18) and 400-meter individual medley (4:46.95) while the bronzes were from the team events in the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relay and the 4x100 medley relay.
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“Sadly, my Dad had already passed away before I got to the Olympics in 1988,” said Guy. “He would have been so proud. I will always remember him telling me this in 1976 – I was barely a swimmer then. He told me 1980, you will be a kid so not yet. In 1984, you might still be too young. But 1988 will be your Olympics. He was right. My Mom got to go and watch all of our events and she got to watch a lot of tennis matches, too. Tennis was her favorite to watch as a spectator.”
Guy said he remembers the bad swims more than the good. “When everything clicks, as they say, when you’re in the zone, it’s hard to remember the victories,” he said. “I guess my most memorable was in 1984 during the Asian Swimming Championships in Seoul. I was 15 but had a strong chance to qualify for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Until today, I remember the dumb move I made that day. I took a high breath to see where the Japanese swimmer was with a few meters to go. Of course, that slowed me down a bit. If I had gotten third, I would have qualified for the ’84 Games. But the Japanese beat me and I finished fourth. Our times in that event, the 400-meter freestyle were 4:11.95 for the Japanese and 4:11.96 for me. I missed the L A Olympics by 1/100 of a second. I never forgot that.”
Guy’s message to aspiring swimmers and Olympians is applicable to everyone. “Dream big but don’t dream alone,” he said. “Personal ambitions should lift up everyone, not just one. And what would it take to have a Filipino Olympic medalist in swimming? The truth is, I’d rather see someone whose family has always struggled with poverty to win a medal in the UAAP for three reasons. One, that means he or she is getting an education. Two, there’s a memorable experience with team and school spirit and three, this student-athlete empowerment is the best foundation for long-term nation-building.”
For their accomplishments as athletes, the Concepcion brothers will be inducted into the De La Salle Sports Hall of Fame in April next year. It’s a long-overdue and well-deserved honor for the Olympic brothers.