Cynthia Carrion, chief of mission to the 29th Southeast Asian Games, admits that the country’s apparent lack of gold medal contenders in water sports such as swimming and diving, is alarming since it offers the biggest number of gold medals at 60.
“There are 60 gold medals there,” said Carrion, who has been tasked to come up with a team that that many hope would be much better than the one that was sent two years ago which placed sixth overall and won just 29 gold medals.
To solve the problem, Carrion and her team reportedly are waiting for the arrival of some 20 swimmers from abroad with Filipino lineage. The plan is an admission that swimming has fallen into the gutter and has failed to develop local talent despite the millions of pesos poured into the association by the Philippine Sports Commission over the years.
In another slap to the faces of Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission officials, the president of the swimming association, Mark Joseph, has not been heard from but remains the association’s head.
Philippine Swimming Inc. secretary general Lani Velasco has informed the SEAG Task Force and the Philippine Olympic Committee that the association is awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from the US, Canada and Europe.
Velasco, however, has yet to release the names of some of these imports of Filipino extraction, according to Carrion, who is targeting a gold medal haul of at least 45 overall.
Carrion said that swimming is in troubled waters with the lack of gold medal potentials.
“A lot of the swimmers that she (Velasco) has are still young,” said Carrion.
Velasco is taking the lead for swimming as Joseph hasn’t been seen for some time, including skipping official functions, although he is quite active on social media.
Swimming had its heydays some 10 years ago when the swimming association recruited many Fil-Americans and even spent for their college education.