Legless tanker seals slot in Rio Paralympics

MANILA, Philippines – Swimmer Ernie Gawilan has secured his place in next year’s Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro with his winning performance in the eighth Asean Para Games in Singapore recently.

Gawilan, a legless ace, romped off with two gold medals and one silver in the Paralympics-qualifying joust in Singapore, booking berths in the men’s S8 400-meter and 100-meter freestyle events in Rio in the process.

“He qualified for two events,” coach Tony Ong said in Philspada-NPC Philippines’ radio program on dzSR.

Davaoeno Gawilan posted a new Asean Para Games record 4:48.49 in ruling the 400-meter free, easily meeting the Minimum Qualification Standard (MQS) of 4:49.29.  He is currently ranked 10th in the International Paralympic Committee’s world ranking for swimming in this particular event.

Gawilan’s silver-winning effort of 1:05.77 in the 100-m free also made the grade in the race to Rio. He breached the Minimum Entry Time (MET) of 1:06.97 to add a second event to his calendar. He stands at 23rd in the world in this event.

The 24-year-old Gawilan ruled the men’s 200-m individual medley SM8 in the Singapore meet but his golden clocking of 2:47.64 fell short of both the MQS (2:33.40) and MET (2:42.60).

“It’s really my target to meet the qualifying time for Rio,” Gawilan said in an interview on GMA News TV. “Sometimes I wake up wondering if I really qualified because it’s hard to meet the time (MQS).”

“Based on the world rankings, we basically know who his toughest rivals in Rio will be and what his training program will be (for the next months),” said Ong.

Gawilan was born with no legs and an underdeveloped left arm. But that did not deter him from pursuing his dream to be a world-class swimmer.

Last year, Gawilan swam his way to three bronze medals in the Asian Para Games in Incheon, Korea, emerging as the winningest among the Philippine bets in the quadrennial meet.