Swimmers Simms, Arabejo miss Phil. records, semis

MANILA, Philippines – A ripped suit caused swimmer Christel Simms performance at the pool as she and compatriot Ryan Arabejo closed out the Philippine campaign in the 29th Beijing Olympics at the National Aquatics Center. Simms and Arabejo missed breaking their own Philippine records as well as in their respective bids to get past the qualifying heats. First to go down was Simms, who swam in the fourth heat of the women’s 50-meter freestyle event. She finished fourth in her heat with a time of 26.64 seconds and in the process missed breaking her own Philippine record of 26.31 According to RP swimming chief Mark Joseph, Simms’swimsuit ripped near the buttocks as she bended for the start during the heat topped by Lithuania’s Rugile Mileisyte in 26.12 seconds. “The ripped suit caused drag that affected her (Simms) race." Expectedly, Simms failed to make the semifinals in the event that has an Olympic record time of 24.13 seconds set by Inge De Buijn of the Netherlands during the 2000 Sydney Games. Arabejo followed suit later in the day and like Simms fell short of surpassing his RP mark of 15:39.86 finishing third among five starters in the first heat of the 1,500-meter freestyle with a time of 15:42.27. Arabejo was the last of five swimmers to see action in this Olympiad where they set four Philippine and three Southeast Asian Games records to somehow ease the pain of their forgettable showing. – GMANews.TV