BEIJING?The athlete with the pedigree of a Filipino Olympic immortal comes to the fore Thursday when pool sprinter Daniel Coakley sees action in the 50-meter freestyle at the Beijing Olympics here.

The 18-year-old, Hawaii-born grandson of the late Teofilo Yldefonso, Coakley plunges into action in the ninth of a busy 13-heat event at the magnificent Water Cube aquatics venue.

He hits the water at 6:33 p.m. with the 40th fastest clocking of 22.80 seconds among the 97 entries based on personal-best clocking.

Considered the greatest Filipino swimmer in history, Yldefonso won his country?s first Olympic medal?a bronze in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 1928 Amsterdam Games?and matched the feat four years later at the Los Angeles Games. Born in Piddig, Ilocos Norte and known as the ?Ilocano Shark,? Yldefonso died during the Pacific War in 1943 at age 40.

?Daniel is ready to go,? said national swimming association chief Mark Joseph. ?He has a strong commitment to swimming his best for his country. It?s almost a spiritual thing; he loves to race and compete, so we will see him do well.?

Coakley, Southeast Asia?s fastest swimmer, takes lane 8 in the heat that also includes Italy?s Alessandro Calvi, Estonia?s Miko Malberg, India?s Virdhawal Khade, Colombia?s Camilo Becerra, China?s Cai Li, Belarus? Andrei Radzionau and Kenya?s David Dunford.

Joseph said he expects better clocking from his ward.

Like fellow Fil-Am and freestyle sprinter Christel Simms, Coakley?s Olympic stint is being closely followed in Hawaii where the pair are the US state?s most notable swimmers, according to RP chief of mission and Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella.

Eamon Sullivan, the Australian who out-kicked Michael Phelps in the first leg of the Americans? dramatic victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay Monday, holds the world record of 21.28 which he set in Sydney in March.

Coakley will be the fourth of the RP squad?s five tankers to see action in these Games after James Walsh (200m butterfly), Miguel Molina (200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley) and Simms (100m free). The fifth, Ryan Arabejo, joins the fray on Friday in the lung-busting 1,500m free.

Walsh became the first Southeast Asian to go under two minutes in the 200 fly Monday, turning in a time of 1:59.39.