Golden girl revisited Akiko ideal POC choice for IOC body

The line was always busy (one would curse the hell out of it), but when the phone finally rang, the voice at the end of the line was soft and sweet: "Hello, this is Akiko Thomson."

Akiko, the many-time Southeast Asian Games pool queen, is now into a lot of things, except swimming.

Over three years after she closed the final chapter of her 10-year-or-so swimming career, Akiko has gone into business, working as executive consultant at the Makati office of an insurance company where her father is one of the founders.

"I'm so busy nowadays," she said, referring to her job promoting the insurance business, on top of her graduate studies and community services.

Akiko gained some attention again lately when she was named by the Philippine Olympic Committee's Athletes Commission for a position in the elite Athletes' Commission of the International Olympic Committee.

The nominees, numbering 44 from over 180 member countries of the IOC, will be voted upon by the IOC membership during Sydney Olympic Games in September.

"I'll be taking this position seriously. It's an honor for our athletes, and it's a great honor for me because, if ever, I'll be the first Filipino to hold this position," she said.

Member countries will vote for the 12 who will fill in the vacancies left by athletes such as Russian eminent pole vaulter Sergei Bubka and swimmer Alexei Popov who have been named to the IOC Commission.

Akiko, whose charm, beauty and talent, they say, could send a bleacher full of fans into a cheering frenzy , is ideally the logical POC nominee because she not only belongs to the exclusive circle of champions but she also has the bearing, the brains and outlook for the job.

Akiko, a graduate of Berkeley University in California where she obtained a degree in anthropology and completed studies in theater, is currently pursuing a master's course in management (MBA) from the Ateneo.

Two years ago, she wrote a paper dissecting the problems besetting Philipine sports and offered solutions from the viewpoint of an athlete.

Nowadays, she also spares some time after church services on Sundays at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity at exclusive Forbes Park to conduct bible studies.

"I am now very much involved in Sunday school," says Akiko, who finished 12th grade (equivalent of Senior High) at the American-run Brent School at the University of Life compound in Pasig.

Yet, despite her present preoccupations, she says she welcomes offers in broadcasting (like fellow former national players Dyan Castillejo and Christine Jacobs), theater or showbiz.

"Theater is one of my passions. If there are offers, I'll take them. I am very much comfortable with the camera, too," she adds. She used to co-host the TV show "Adventure Zone".

She says she sees no obstacles to her present preoccupations and what she could be in the near future.

"I'm still very much single, at saka, wala pa naman akong boy friend," she muses.