Walsh’s time short of medal but good enough to set SE Asian mark

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines was a long shot for any medal in the Olympics’ first 72 hours. That’s why the country will find James Bernard Walsh’s exploit Monday a welcome sigh of relief. Walsh didn’t win a medal in the 200m butterfly; in fact, he never came to close to one. But still, the two-time Olympian entered a realm no Southeast Asian swimmer has been to before: the under two-minute barrier in Olympic competition. Walsh clocked one minute and 59.39 seconds and ended up first in his heat Monday to break both his personal and the Philippine records which were his pretournament goals. The Philippine Amateur Swimming Association would later confirm that Walsh’s time was good enough to set a benchmark in Southeast Asian swimming. “He has brought the SEA Games record to a new level," PASA president Mark Joseph said. Walsh’s performance—and the response it got—was a far cry from his showing in the Athens Olympics where he fell way off his target of breaking his personal-best time. He finished 37th of 39 competitors then. On Monday, Walsh ended up 29th of 44 aspirants. Michael Phelps of the US emerged on top of the qualifiers with an Olympic record-breaking time. Walsh’s time was lower than the two swimmers from Southeast Asian neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia. Most of the Filipinos seeing action in Beijing have only been looking to improve on their own numbers. Hidilyn Diaz broke the Philippine record and surpassed her qualifying total (186) in women’s 58kg weightlifting also Monday, a feat that satisfied her coach nonetheless. Miguel Molina, the next RP swimmer to see action, said he would be looking to better his clocking in the 200m breaststroke heats Tuesday. – GMANews.TV