RIO DE JANEIRO – There’s a big room for improvement for Filipina swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi when she competes here in Rio, which is actually her second straight Olympics.
In 2012 in London, the tall and lovely swimmer finished 34th among 50 participants with a time of 57.13 seconds in the 100-m freestyle. She is doing much better now.
Alkhaldi is coming here with a best time of 55.94 in the same event. Now, she can look forward to a better finish than her Olympic debut four years ago.
“Of course, the goal is to improve from the first time I competed in the Olympics,” said the 23-year-old Alkhaldi inside the Athletes Village here.
“I trained a hundred percent harder than before,” she said.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands won the 100m freestyle in London in 2012 with a time of 53 seconds flat. She also took the gold in the 50m free with a time of 24.05 seconds.
Since arriving from Hawaii three days ago with her coach Jennifer Bufin, Alkhaldi has frequented the training venue with her fellow competitor from the Philippines.
