Swimmers make it the hard way

MANILA, Philippines - Contrary to widespread belief, neither Jessie Khing Lacuna nor Jasmine Alkhaldi booked tickets to the London Olympics because of a now-obsolete mandatory rule obliging each country to send at least two swimmers – one male and one female – to the Summer Games, it was explained by Philippine Swimming Inc. president Mark Joseph yesterday.

Joseph stressed that Lacuna and Alkhaldi qualified for the Olympics without a free ride. Only 900 slots were allocated for swimming by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the qualifying process was the toughest ever. At the Beijing Olympics four years ago, there were 976 competitors. The 7.7 percent reduction was considered “substantial” by United States Aquatic Sports president Dale Neuburger.

“The opportunity to compete in London is more difficult than ever before because FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation) now has 202 member national federations worldwide and the level of international swimming performances has improved dramatically in the last four years,” said Neuburger.

The four qualification levels are the Olympic qualification time based on the 16th best clocking in Beijing, the relay-only swimmers, the Universality method of selection where 75 top-ranked male and female swimmers are invited and the Olympic selection time which is three percent slower than the qualification standard but without any guarantee of participation in London.

While Lacuna and Alkhaldi were invited via the Universality process, Joseph said they earned the tickets through merit. “Universality today has a very different concept from when it was first introduced in the Olympics,” said Joseph. “For swimming, it means not every country will be represented anymore automatically. Unlike athletics, the swimmers had to be selected by FINA and we could not simply name whomever we wanted. Jessie and Jasmine participated in the pre-Olympic qualification meet at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai last year and they landed in the top 75 of their genders, gaining eligibility to participate in the Olympics under the Universality principle provided they continued to join FINA sanctioned events, improve and train hard.”

Joseph said Lacuna and Alkhaldi are examples of how homegrown swimmers could blossom into Olympic qualifiers. “We were able to take homegrown talent, put them in serious training for six years since they were just 12 and 13 and six years later, mint new Philippine Olympians,” he said. “Are they going to win in London? These kids are going to be up against swimmers 8 to 10 years older than them, who have swum millions of meters more than them annually. And had much more money invested in them than we could dream of. Jes and Jas are the future. They’ll compete in the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and one or two more Olympics if we can afford to keep them in the water. But more importantly, they are proof that we know how to do things and can achieve what we set ourselves to do.”

Lacuna, 18, and Alkahldi, 19, are products of a program that began with a talent identification system through the Philippine Olympic Festival in 2007. They were recruited to join the Philippine Center for Excellence at Trace College in Los Banos by coach Pinky Brosas and later brought to the FINA training camp under Ian Thorpe’s coaches in Australia in 2009. Their development led to creditable finishes at the Youth Olympics in Singapore two years ago. Lacuna took eighth place in the finals while Alkhaldi was ninth in the semis. They trained at the New South Wales Institute of Sports in Sydney under coaches Jim and Lyn Fowlie for two months before plunging into the pool at the World Championships.

At the SEA Games in Palembang last year, Lacuna and Alkhaldi sealed their ranking in the FINA point system by improving their times. In London, Lacuna will compete in the 200-meter freestyle and Alkhaldi, 100-meter freestyle.

“Qualification for the Olympics is more rigorous than ever,” said Neuburger. “There are no guarantees or automatic qualifications as in the past. The two young swimmers from the Philippines who are currently ranked in positions that have qualified them for invitations to participate in London represent a significant achievement for Philippine Swimming Inc and the Philippine Olympic Committee. The eligibility of the Philippines’ two swimmers clearly validates the system of benchmarking National Federation practices on the FINA ranking system. While I am unaware of the qualification procedures in other sports, I know that our process in swimming is rigorous and objective without any guaranteed invitations for mandatory sports or wildcards. FINA oversees the invitation of competing athletes assuring a high level of achievement and fitness.”

Joseph pointed out that at 17, Lacuna broke the Philippine record set by Miguel Molina in the 200-meter freestyle with a clocking of 1:52.27. Molina established the previous mark when he was 23. Alkhaldi also holds the Philippine record in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 0:58.02.

“The journey is difficult but doable,” said Joseph. “First, join FINA events then enlist in camps, spend six years of hard training, earn Olympic scholarships, achieve the qualifying times for the Olympics but score higher points than everyone else above the cut-off of 900 and finally, be invited by FINA to participate in the Olympics.”