INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—Sheila Mae Perez, who dove out of the anonymity of her rural life down south to become one of the country’s Olympians, became the first athlete to rush to the defense of Philippine Amateur Swimming Association president Mark Joseph, saying the embattled sports leader may be “strict,” but “very supportive.”

Perez is one of the Filipinos who will represent the country in the Beijing Olympics this year, where she will compete in the springboard diving event.

“Actually, Sir Mark is really strict when it comes to us athletes,” Perez told the Inquirer in Filipino during a press conference that launched Microsoft’s partnership with the Philippine Olympic Committee at the Lenovo Concept Store at the Mall of Asia late Friday afternoon.

“But he is very supportive of us athletes,” added the bemedalled 22-year-old diver. “I remember one time, before the SEA Games, he flew to China to be with us while we were training.”

“Nung supposed to be walang binibigay sa aming allowance, siya yung nagbigay, pera niya ‘yun na binigay niya sa amin (When there was no one supposed to give us allowances, he reached into his own pockets so we could be provided with allowances).”

Joseph is under fire currently from a parents’ group that wants to unseat him as aquatics president, saying he has failed call elections stipulated in the very memorandum that installed him as president.

Jane Ong, a mother of a Palarong Pambansa gold winner and spokesperson for the group, said in a press release circulated Friday that the group will no longer recognize Joseph as Pasa president “unless and until the POC calls for the elections of of regional directors.”

Joseph, who is currently in Greece attending a sports seminar, has countered the group’s accusation, but added in an e-mail to the Inquirer that he will only answer the charges thoroughly once he returns to the country in a little over a week.

“I’ll have to defer from making further comments,” he said. “I must be sure first before I speak. I don’t have all facts yet.”

“The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘it’s politics again,’” Perez told the Inquirer after the press conference, where Microsoft launched the Olympinoy campaign that aims to spark the flame of nationalism within Filipinos and to rally behind the country’s Olympians.

“I just hope the controversy won’t hurt the sport,” Perez added. Gisela A. Marcelang, Contributor