So when I learned that the Philippines was going to host the 23rd Southeast Asian Games, going to see the swimming competitions by whatever means and wherever it was going to be held became a must.
I braved the daunting traffic to Trace College in Los Baños, Laguna, the site of the swim meets. Looking at the spanking new Olympic-size pool gave me that "it-feels-like-I’m-not-in-the-Philippines" moment.
For most of us middle-range athletes who compete only in swim clubs and at the collegiate level, it was definitely good exposure to witness international swim competitions live. My jaw dropped as I watched the region’s swim gods, trained by Australian and Russian coaches, doing their laps in perfect, powerful strokes.
I felt their intimidating presence, sleek in high-tech swimsuits, goggles and swim caps screaming their country’s names, as they walked to the starting blocks, their long coats on to keep their muscles from tensing up. They were, as athletes put it, "in the zone," focused on the task at hand.
I am not easily star-struck but seeing these athletes create waves – figuratively and literally – and often dominating our athletes, I couldn’t help but wonder at how powerful the other Southeast Asian nations have become in the sport of swimming.
But once the meets were over, the intensity of competition waned and rivals became bosom friends. This was after all what the Games were all about, sportsmanship at the highest level.
Our own national team, the typical party people that we Filipinos are, danced to the country’s new national anthem, Pinoy Ako, when suddenly pulled their formidable Singaporean counterparts and pushed them in the pool.
Meanwhile, the Thai swimmers dove from the highest diving platform, a tradition for SEA Games first timers.
The Philippines won the overall championship, but we only landed thirdin swimming. Singapore and Thailand bagged first and second place, respectively. Thanks to the Fil-Am swimmers, we were able to reap four gold medals, though I never got to hear Lupang Hinirang played because I failed to attend the events where they bagged gold.
On the last day of the swim meets, all hopes waned in hearing the Philippine national anthem when three-time gold medalist Miguel Molina only finished silver in his event. This should serve as an example that although the Fil-Am athletes are doing a great job, our hopes should not only be on them. The local athletes are not pie fillers and if our local sports officials would set aside the politics and the intrigues, getting the gold is not such an impossible feat.
We sent our swimmers to China but obviously much more needs to be done as far as training is concerned, for a lot of our national swimmers still can’t measure up to the swimming superpowers of the region. And this is just the SEA Games level. As the swim experts predict, this is just the tip of the iceberg. By next year’s Asian Games and the 24th SEA Games in 2007, expect our neighbors to be a much stronger force.
There’s no such thing as a homecourt advantage. There are no officials to award us points in favor of the host country. And no matter how big our legion of supporters are in the stands, or how often we play Pinoy Ako, the fact is the burden of winning lies solely on the athlete.
I would say that the Games were a success because it inspired our young to look at sports as way of improving ourselves.