PHI SWIMMING’S ALIVE—BARELY
By Red N.A. Dumuk
(March 2022)
From the saving grace of PHI contingent in Southeast Asian Games to a non-entity in dire need of a lifesaver. That is the lamentable tale of PHI Swimming.
In 1989, PHI was predicted to amass 59 golds. Alas, it could only produce 26, a negative variance of 56%. Against the backdrop of the worst PHI standing then, fifth, swimmers Buhain and Thomson provided luster as they kicked in more than one-fifth of the PHI’s gold output. The duo’s share was the most among the nine sports which minted gold. The biggest shock was: basketball was not in the roster; the second time it was missing.
Buhain posted SEA Games and Philippine national records enroute to claiming three gold medals. Not to be outdone Thomson, not yet 15 then, equaled Buhain’s feat—three golds all in record times. And more….
Thomson outshone Buhain for she was declared Female Most Valuable Player of the 15th Southeast Asian Games. Buhain was not accorded the same accolade, an Asian Games record he rewrote, notwithstanding.
Then Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Sering, perhaps in an effort to quiet the yells of debacle from some quarters declared, “We’ll come back fighting.” Then Project: Gintong Alay executive director Arturo Ilagan was more forthright. He said, “Philippines was now three years behind its regional rivals.”
Buhain helped big time in restoring Sering’s credibility and, in so doing, belied Ilagan’s observation two years back. In the 16th SEA Games dubbed as “Miracle of “91”, Buhain outsparkled his partner in the distaff side as this time he emerged as the male MVP of the SEA Games.
Thomson collared two gold medals and settled for two silvers while Buhain romped off with five (including one from relay). With additional golds from Leo Najera and Lee Patrick Concepcion, swimming’s total of nine golds was eclipsed only by wushu’s and shooting’s 10s.
In PHI’s maiden hosting of the SEA Games 10 years back during the heyday of the Gintong Alay, swimmer William “Billy” Wilson tallied 3-1-1 which was second only to bowling world champion Bong Coo’s 4-2-0.
In the 1978 Asian Games Asian Games, Coo reaped three of PHI’s 4 golds with swimmer Gerard Rosario snaffling the other gold in one of the bright moments of PHI Swimming in the Asiad. The previous edition saw Rosario tote a 0-2-3 output, the most outstanding among Filipino campaigners who aggregated 0-2-12.
Freestylist Jairulla Jaitula figured in one-third and one-twelfth of the 9-silver and 12-bronze harvest, respectively, in the 1970 edition of the continental meet. Another freestyle specialist Helen Elliot four years earlier shared five to PHI’s 15 silver medal haul. Boxer Ricardo Fortaleza saved PHI from a gold shutout in 1970. Another boxer, Rodolfo Arpon, and discus thrower Josephine de la Viňa were the only 1974 gold medalists.
Other swimmers who caused the Philippine flag to be raised to the tune of Lupang Hinirang included: 1951- Artemio Salamat, Jacinto Cayco and the 3 x 100m Medley Relay team of Salamat, Cayco and Marhatab Rajab; 1954- Haydee Coloso-Espino (2), Parsons Nabiula and Jocelyn von Giese; 1958- 4 x 100m Medley Relay team of Jocelyn von Giese, Sandra Von Giese, Victoria Cagayat and Espino.
Phi Swimming suffered a gold-medal drought in the Asian Games, spanning from 1962 to 2018. There was breathing spell with the Wilson and Rosario gilts in 1978 and 1982. Sadder still, from 1986 to 2018 PHI Swimming has been displaying a 0-0-0 count, save for Raymond Papa’s two bronzes in 1998.
Fast forward to 21st century.
Table below shows PHI’s showing in the SEAG in the 21st century:
Edition | Rank | G | S | B | No. of Events |
2019 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 38 |
2017 | |||||
2015 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 38 |
2013 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 32 |
2011 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 38 |
2009 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 32 |
2007 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 32 |
2005 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 32 |
2003 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 32 |
2001 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 32 |
Note: PHI hosting in blue
PHI Swimming’s best performance in this century was attained in 2007, when PHI sank to its lowest position, 6th, for the first time since her debut in 1977. Close to 20% of PHI’s 41 golds was contributed by our swimmers that finished as runners-up to the Singaporeans.
Miguel Molina uncorked the biggest consolation to PHI delegation. His four gold medals thrusted him to the title of Most Valuable Player of the 2007 SEA Games. Ryan Arabejo pitched in three golds in a stellar supporting role.
Molina was the third Filipino to capture the SEA Games top award. Akiko Thomson and Eric Buhain churned their way to same award in 1989 and 1991 SEA Games. No other Filipino, outside of these three swimmers, has come close to be heralded SEA Games MVP.
PHI Swimming’s best bettered its 3rd place finish in the 2005 SEAG the PHI hosted for the third time and dominated first ever. Molina grabbed 3 golds with the other MM (Miguel Mendoza) snared one. Adding the five from diving (three from Sheila Mae Perez), aquatics ranked 3rd in the PHI delegation comprising 38 sports. Only wushu with 11 golds and athletics with 9 also but had more silvers clung to the higher rungs.
That proved to be PHI Swimming’s swan song. Measly two years hence, it was downhill all the way, driving one to pine for the good ol’ days—at least for PHI swimming.
It took a Fil-American during the 30th SEA Games 2019 to resuscitate PHI swimming after a gold-medal less campaign in four SEAG editions from 2011. James Deiparine’s gilt in the 100m breaststroke, was an early Christmas gift wrapped with a new SEAG record and National standard. His gold topped his silver in the 50m breaststroke.
(Our only Olympic swimming medals—two bronzes—were clinched in 1928 and 1932 by the Ilocano Shark, Teofilo Yldefonso, in 200m breaststroke both ruled Yoshiyuki Tsurata. Yldefonso and Tsurata encountered each other anew a decade later. This instance in a real war, WWII. Both of them were serving as lieutenants in their respective armies.)
Of the 56 sports contested in 2019 SEAG, PHI swimming (1-6-9 medal tally) together with karate (2-1-9), canoe/kayak (1-2-2), archery (1-0-0), bowling (0-1-1) and short track speed skating (0-0-1) ranked 5th among the contending nations. This means the sextet languished in the cellar for the 50 other sports ranked 4th and above.
Buoying up the spirits of the members of the swimming community, let’s have a look at the tables below.
Sports that produced PHI Olympians in the 21st Century (2000, 04,08, 12,16 & 2020)
Aquatics* | 15 | 8 | 23 |
Boxing | 12 | 2 | 14 |
Athletics | 6 | 7 | 13 |
Taekwondo | 6 | 5 | 11 |
Archery | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Weightlifting | 1 | 5 | 6 |
Shooting | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Judo | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Equestrian | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Rowing | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Cycling | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Table Tennis | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Golf | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Top10 Sports in producing PHI Olympians
Boxing | 66 | 2 | 68 |
Basketball | 63 | 0 | 63 |
Aquatics | 48 | 15 | 61 |
Athletics | 34 | 21 | 55 |
Shooting | 35 | 1 | 36 |
Cycling | 17 | 0 | 17 |
Weightlifting | 14 | 2 | 16 |
Wrestling | 15 | 0 | 15 |
Sailing | 14 | 0 | 14 |
Judo | 12 | 1 | 13 |
As they say, res ipsa loquitor.
In international/world hall of fames, only 11 Filipino athletes have been enshrined to date. Among them was swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso, “the father of modern breaststroke”. He was inducted in 2010 under the pioneer swimmer category following his inclusion in the inaugural batch of honorees of the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame (PSHOF).
Forty-seven athletes have so far found a niche in the PSHOF, including a “Magnificent 7” of PHI Swimming:
TEOFILO YLDEFONSO 2010
GERARDO ROSARIO 2016
MOHAMMAD MALA 2016
JACINTO CAYCO 2016
HAYDEE COLOSO-ESPINO 2016
ERIC BUHAIN 2021
GERTRUDES LOZADA 2021
Will 2022 be full of surprises? Hanoi SEA Games and Hangzhou Asian Games, and possibly, Birmingham World Games—here comes PHI Swimming all-out to relive its old glory with overwhelming majority of homegrown talents in the U.S. of A.
2019 South East Asian Rankings for Swimming Complete
[embeddoc url=”https://www.pinoyathletics.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2016-2020-SEA-Rankings-2019-SEA-Swimming-1.pdf” viewer=”browser”]
Philippines Swimming
2019 South East Asian Games Results
[embeddoc url=”https://www.pinoyathletics.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/30th-SEA-GAMES-Aquatics-Swimming-Results-1.pdf” viewer=”browser”]
Philippines Swimming
Special Thanks to Lailani Velasco and PSI for providing the SEA Games Results
Philippines Swimming
Lailani Velasco Motivational Video of Philippines Swimming in Time of #COVID-19
Philippines Swimming
What are Aquatic Events
- Surfing
- Sailing
- Swimming
- Wind Surfing
- Jet Skiing
- Wake Boarding
- Water Skiing
- Kite Surfing
- Skimboarding
- Bodyboarding
- Cliff Diving
- Scuba Diving
- Synchronized Swimming
- Synchronized Diving
- Triathlon
- Water Polo
- Aqua jogging
- Barefoot SKiing
- Canoeing
- Dragon Boat Racing
- Flyboard
- Flowboarding
- Kayaking
- Kneeboarding
- Paddleboarding
- Parasailing
- Rafting
- Yachting
- Cave Diving
- Ice Diving
- Powerboating
- Snorkeling
- Spearfishing
Philippines Swimming
Factbox: Key facts about artistic swimming at the Tokyo 2020 Games
(Reuters) – The 2020 Tokyo Olympics includes 33 sports. Artistic swimming, previously synchronized swimming, is one of the aquatic events.
- In contrast, here are some key facts about artistic swimming at the Olympics.
- Introduced: we added artistic swimming to the Olympic program in 1984.
- Events: Artistic swimming is one of two women’s-only events and features a duet and a team competition with eight swimmers.
- Swimmers complete a “free” routine and a “technical” routine in both events, with judges scoring them from 0-100. The duet and team combined final scores to determine the winner.
- Rules: Each routine can last from 2-1/2 to five minutes and is set to the music playing above and below the water.
- Also, swimmers must not touch the sides or bottom of the pool.
Technique:
- Once known as “water ballet,” artistic swimming is judged not only on skill and athleticism; but however on grace and style. However, the degree of difficulty in a routine also affects the scoring.
- In addition to duet and team competition, swimmers move in tandem to create acrobatic patterns and execute lifts.
- Above all Top countries: Russia is the world leader in the sport, winning nine gold medals at the last world championships.
- Also, Russian athletes have won gold in the duet and team competitions at the last five Olympics.
- Sources: International Olympic Committee, Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Swim England, FINA
(Reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Ken Ferris)
ppines Swimming
2019 Philippines Swimming 10 Athletes hit Bronze, Further 8 in Top 10 SEA Games 2019
The Following swimmers are ranked Top 10 in South East Asia for 2019 in their respective events. Also, The first 10 names have made the SEA Games Bronze of 2017 in individual events. In conclusion, anyone not on this list is not ranked Top 10 in South East Asia for this year.
Provided a list of those who passed bronze and also SEA Rankings for Swimming 2019.
Philippines Swimming
[embeddoc url=”https://www.pinoyathletics.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2016-2019-SEA-Rankings.XLSX-2019-SEA-Swimming.pdf” viewer=”browser”]
Philippines Swimming
2019 SEA Swimming Ranking List 10.08.19
Crowd Sourcing – Please email additional information to [email protected]
Provided a list of those who passed bronze and also SEA Rankings for Swimming 2019.
Philippines Swimming
[embeddoc url=”https://www.pinoyathletics.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2016-2019-SEA-Rankings.XLSX-2019-SEA-Swimming.pdf” viewer=”browser”]Philippines Simming
Philippine Swimming – 2018 Batang Pinoy Finals Swimming Results

All in all, we broke 19 meet records. Based on these results. This is at a guess 90-95% of the full results. Kindly provided to me by a swimming enthusiast. What makes the performances more remarkable is the pool was freezing at the Baguio. Making it less than ideal for athletes to swim to the best of their ability.
[embeddoc url=”https://www.pinoyathletics.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-Swimming-Batang-Pinoy.pdf” viewer=”browser”]
For Updated Meet Records of Batang Pinoy in Swimming
For news on Swimming, including Philippine Swimming
2018 Philippines Swimming
Philippines Swimming
Philippine Swimming – 2018 Philippines Swimming SEA Ranking Swimming Issue 2
From January 1, 2018, to August 26, 2018
As promised after the Asian Games. How the landscape of southeast Asian Swimming is looking.
Please note 100 Backstroke
#2 Chloe Isleta Kennedy 1:03.86 100 Back Stroke NEO Garden 22 Jun Singapore
[embeddoc url=”https://www.pinoyathletics.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/SEA-Rankings-Swimming-2018.pdf” viewer=”browser”]
200m Back |
|||||||||
SEA GOLD |
2.13.64 |
||||||||
SEA SILVER |
2.18.39 |
||||||||
SEA BRONZE |
2.19.98 |
||||||||
1 |
Vien Nguyen |
VIE |
2.16.18 |
TYR Pro Swim Series |
Columbus |
7-Jul-18 |
|||
2 |
Nurul Fajar Fitrayati |
INA |
2.17.56 |
14TH NEO Garden SNSC |
Singapore |
21-Jun-18 |
|||
3 |
Chloe Kennedy Isleta |
PHI |
2.17.71 |
14TH NEO Garden SNSC |
Singapore |
21-Jun-18 |
|||
4 |
Roxanne Ashley Yu |
PHI |
2.19.12 |
Asian Games |
Jakarta |
19-Aug-18 |
|||
5 |
Yessey Yosaputra |
INA |
2.19.79 |
49th Singapore AG Champs |
Singapore |
15-Mar-18 |
|||
6 |
Fonpray Yamsuan |
THA |
2.21.26 |
14TH NEO Garden SNSC |
Singapore |
21-Jun-18 |
|||
7 |
Azzahara Permatahani |
INA |
2.21.69 |
49th Singapore AG Champs |
Singapore |
15-Mar-18 |
|||
8 |
Xiandi Chua |
PHI |
2.21.85 |
14TH NEO Garden SNSC |
Singapore |
21-Jun-18 |
|||
9 |
Gim Eojin |
SIN |
2.21.86 |
14TH NEO Garden SNSC |
Singapore |
21-Jun-18 |
|||
10 |
Thi Trang Hoang |
VIE |
2.23.30 |
National Youth Champs |
Ho Chi Minh |
14-Jul-18 |
2018 SEA Rankings in Swimming
We have not included the 2018 SEA Youth and 2018 ASEAN School Games Results. Or other meets not sanctioned by FINA. These Rankings represent an assortment of competitions from January 1, 2018, to August 19, 2018. Andrew Pirie compiles them, and ATFS Statistician is better known for his Track and Field Stats work.
Athletes who have broken the 2017 SEA Games marks are highlighted in
Yellow = Gold
Gray = Silver
Brown = Bronze
Blue Highlight is for Filipino athletes ranked but have not achieved a SEA Games Bronze Medal mark.
[embeddoc url=”https://www.pinoyathletics.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2018-SEA-SWIMMING-RANKINGS.pdf” viewer=”browser”]
Philippines Swimming
For more news on Swimming, 2017 Rankings, and Asian Games Updates, visit here.
Email any corrections to [email protected]
https://youtu.be/TReieKG-Hck
Making it to the Finals from the Philippines was Timothy Yen in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke, Christina Miranda Renner in the B Final of the Women’s breaststroke, Nicole Oliva 200m Free B Final, the and the Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay.
Philippines Swimming Sources:
- http://www.manilatimes.net/white-mojdeh-lead-psl-strong-start/380804/
- http://www.manilatimes.net/jasmine-mojdeh-eye-opener-sports-officials-competitions/381437/
- https://beta.philstar.com/pilipino-star-ngayon/palaro/2018/02/19/1789216/heather-mos-mojdeh-umukit-ng-bagong-ph-record-sa-middle-east-open-swim-meet
2017 Philippines Swimming
2017 SEA Rankings Swimming Part 1
Sources:
- http://tempo.com.ph/2017/10/28/tarlac-bet-on-target/
- http://www.philstar.com/sports/2017/10/28/1753318/eugenio-taguinod-seal-batang-pinoy-5-gold-haul
- These are the 10 Swimmers who hit the bronze and qualified for the team
- Updated the team is now down to 8 with Hall and Chua pulling out due to school commitments
2017 South East Asian Swimming Rankings Part 1
Apr 18, 2017
Absolutely we will apply no Short Course times.
Please send updates or results for consideration to pinoyathl[email protected] Part 2 will be issued at the end of May or June.
Swimming Rankings from Jan 1 to Apr 30. The Following Meets have been included.
[embeddoc url=”https://www.pinoyathletics.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-SEA-Rankings-Swimming-Part-1.pdf” viewer=”google”]
https://www.pinoyathletics.info/stats-records/batang-pinoy-records/swimming/
Philippines Swimming
List of Batang Pinoy Records in Swimming
Philippine Swimming 2014
Milo Little Olympics
Marikina Sports Complex
Oct 24-25
This was on October 24-25 at Marikina Sports Complex. Straight Final of 8, 2 from each team.
Philippines Swimming
Teams Luzon, NCR, Visayas, and Mindanao.
2014 Milo Finals Elementary Swimming Results (complete not in order)
2014 Milo Finals Secondary Swimming Results (might be partial)
Philippines Swimming
University Games Philippines Swimming
Central Philippine University, Iloilo
Oct 24-25
2014 Philippine University Games Swimming Results (partial)
2014
2014 Milo Finals Swimming Elem Results
2014 Batang Pinoy Nationals (Bacolod) Swimming Complete Results
Philippines Swimming
2014 NCR Milo Little Olympics Swimming Results
hilippines Swimming
Philippines Swimming
Philippine Swimming 2014
Milo Little Olympics
Marikina Sports Complex
Oct 24-25
This was on October 24-25 at Marikina Sports Complex. Straight Final of 8, 2 from each team.
Philippines Swimming
Teams Luzon, NCR, Visayas, and Mindanao.
2014 Milo Finals Elementary Swimming Results (complete not in order)
2014 Milo Finals Secondary Swimming Results (might be partial)
Philippines Swimming
University Games Philippines Swimming
Central Philippine University, Iloilo
Oct 24-25
2014 Philippine University Games Swimming Results (partial)
Philippines Swimming
2014
2014 Milo Finals Swimming Elem Results
2014 Batang Pinoy Nationals (Bacolod) Swimming Complete Results
Philippines Swimming
2014 NCR Milo Little Olympics Swimming Results
Long Distance National Championships Results
August 11, 2014
(*results from earlier in the year)
Chloe smashes own National Record in 400 IM surpasses Olympic B standard July 18, 2015
Philippines Swimming
Swimming: Hall moves up to #1 in South East Asia
June 29, 2014
Josh Hall
Fil-Heritage swimmer Joshua Hall swam 1:03.28 in the 100 Breaststroke at the recent MN Twin Jump to June in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Most Noteworthy is that the 23-year-old was the bronze medievalist at the 2013 SEA Games in this event. Furthermore, he now moves to #1 in South East Asia for the 2014 Rankings.
For a full list of 2014 Swimming Rankings
While his time was slightly better than his 1:03.32 bronze effort in Myanmar last year, the Performance gives Hall the standard of bronze medal sea games.
Meanwhile, Hall may be promoted to a silver medal as his opponent Indra Gunawan (INA) announced a two-year doping ban.
Philippines Swimming
2014 SEA Swimming Rankings Final
Jun 4, 2014
Singapore’s TeenagerJoseph Schooling leads a team of mighty swimmers to the 2015 SEA Games.
2014 Sea Swimming. Below is the complete ranking list of southeast Asian Swimming for 2014. Only LC results have been included.
2014 SEA Swimming Ranking Lists Final
SEA-Swimming-Rankings-2014-Issue1B
2014 SEA Swimming Rankings Issue 2
2014 SEA Ranking Swimming Issue 3
2014 SEA Rankings Swimming Issue 3A
2014 SEA Rankings Swimming Issue 4A
2014 SEA Rankings Swimming Issue 5
2014 SEA Swimming Ranking Lists Final
2014 SEA Swimming Rankings Final
Jun 4, 2014
Singapore’s TeenagerJoseph Schooling leads a team of mighty swimmers to the 2015 SEA Games.
2014 Sea Swimming. Below is the complete ranking list of southeast Asian Swimming for 2014. Only LC results have been included.
2014 SEA Swimming Ranking Lists Final
SEA-Swimming-Rankings-2014-Issue1B
2014 SEA Swimming Rankings Issue 2
2014 SEA Ranking Swimming Issue 3
2014 SEA Rankings Swimming Issue 3A
2014 SEA Rankings Swimming Issue 4A
2014 SEA Rankings Swimming Issue 5
2014 SEA Swimming Ranking Lists Final
BP Philippines Swimming Results 2014
BP Luzon Leg Swimming Results 2013
Oct 2013
BP 2013 Swimming Luzon Results
2013 FINA World Champ Results
Complete_Results_Book 2013 FINA World swimming
Philippines National Ranking Lists Swimming Updated
.
For a fascinating article with calculations and summaries on the current swimmers available, please read here
You can also view previous ranking lists below
2013 SEA Swimming Ranking Issue 1
2013 SEA Swimming Rankings Issue 2
2013 SEA Swimming Rankings Issue 3
2013 SEA Swimming Rankings Issue 4
This is the final ranking list for 2013 South East Asia Swimming Mens and Womens. I have only included all Long Course competitions the athletes have competed in; short course conversions have been listed separately with *.
Please send any corrections to [email protected].
SEA Games Swimming Rankings Complete 2013.pdf
2004
2004 Athens Olympics Aquatics Phelps sets a new standard
Philippines Swimming
LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE
PLEASE SHARE THIS ARTICLE