BEIJING OLYMPICS
Swimsuits slow swimmers; Perez makes wrong splash
By Ted S. Melendres
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:11:00 08/15/2008
BEIJING--Blame it on the high-performance swimsuits.
Ripped swim gear made it such a drag for Christel Simms and Ryan Arabejo as the two tankers missed national records and bowed out of the competition Friday at the Beijing Olympics here.
Diver Sheila Mae Perez joined Simms and Arabejo in the sidelines after making a splash of the embarrassing kind at the same Water Cube venue and bombing out in the qualification stages of the 3-meter springboard event.
The 22-year-old from Davao City managed 251.15 points, wound up 23rd in a field of 30 entries, and lost her title as Southeast Asia's finest female diver in the process. Only the top 18 made it to the semifinals.
Simms' swimsuit ripped as she bent for the start of the 50-meter and she eventually came in fourth in the sixth of the sprint's 13 heats with a time of 26.64 seconds, well off her national record of 26.31.
Twenty minutes before the 1,500 freestyle race and with no more time to change, Arabejo's suit got a tear. He managed to finish in 15 minutes and 42.27 seconds, third in the five-man first heat of the lung-busting event.
Perez came no closer to the top 18 than in her third of five compulsory dives where she ranked 19th after executing an almost flawless reverse 2 1/2 somersault in tuck position. But, though she drew 50.40 points from the seven judges, she only moved up to 23rd place from 25th.
Indeed, the former Southeast Asian diving queen from Davao City never recovered from her maiden dive, a forward 2 1/2 somersault in pike position that earned her only 52.80 points, good for 21st place.
Perez's next dive, a backward 2 1/2 tucked somersault, was so badly executed she hit the water with a big splash. The judges put her out of contention with 43.40 points for a total of 96.20, a huge 61.40 points off the pace set by Canada's Blythe Hartley.
China's Guo Jingjing reprised her magnificent golden effort with Wu Mingxia in the 3m synchronized springboard to lead the qualifiers with 373.90 points.
Hartley eventually settled for third place among the 18 semifinalists with 350.60, less than 8 points off Russia's second-ranked Julia Pakhalina (358.15).
"Sumobra ang splash ko, nagulat din ako (I didn't expect to make such a big splash)," said Perez.
The two Malaysians whom Perez upended at the last SEA Games in Thailand finished in front of her this time, although by just a whisker. Elizabeth Jimie and Leong Mun-yee tied for 21st place with 253.50s, a mere 2.35 points better than Perez's effort.
Simms, the 17-year-old former member of the crack United States junior team, wound up 44th among the 90 starters.
"Christel's swimsuit ripped, causing a drag that affected her race," said national swimming chief Mark Joseph. "She wore a suit that's prone to ripping."
The Blue Seventy high-performance swim gear had a big tear in the buttock area and the 17-year-old Filipino-Hawaiian later told Joseph it felt heavy.
Arabejo settled for third place in the five-man first heat of the lung-busting race, missing by less than 3 secs his RP record of 15:39.86.
Arabejo and Simms were the last of the RP tankers to bow out of the Games. In all, the squad reset four national records and surpassed three SEA Games marks.
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