SWIMMERS RIP SUITS NOT RECORDS!

Hawaii-based Christel Simms and Ryan Arabejo swam with badly-torn swim suits and missed a chance to break their own marks, but the attempts were merely shades off the standard times as they capped a week-long record romp by the young, US-based five-member squad in the toughest, fastest Olympics ever at the Water Cube here last night.

Simms, born to a Filipino mother and an American lifeguard in Hawaii, ripped her suit at the buttocks as she bent at the starting block. She was given the option to change suits but decided against it to avoid disqualification.

She had a clocking of 26.64 seconds, a shade off her mark of 26.31 in the 50m freestyle.

“She could change her suit, but that would have taken time and the sixth heat was to begin,” said swimming president Mark Joseph.

If she did not take her place at lane 5 at the start of the race, she would have been marked with a DNS (did not swim) in the official results.

“Water entered the suit and that caused a drag, which affected her swim,” said Joseph, a former Olympian...for full story

Are these swim suits made in China?

The free swim suits issued by the Beijing organizers are like the free raincoats given out to media on rainy days. They get torn easily at the seams, so journalists just throw them away after each use...for full story

Inconclusive. This is not the fault of our hardworking athletes but they are the ones getting embarrassed. People at Philstar say this is nothing but another excuse from sports officials.

This is not the first case:

As I’ve chronicled here last November, you don’t show up at a world championship a day or two before, with uniforms that don’t fit and aren’t even, well, uniform. These are little problems that distract the athletes from focusing on the job at hand. Imagine trying to box your way to an Olympic berth while your shorts are falling off. What self-respecting nation would allow its athletes to suffer that?

The funding is there, the government support likewise. We can compete with other countries on even terms. So why do we have to shoot ourselves in the foot? We know what it takes. Why not bring the psychologists, nutritionists and masseurs that our athletes need when they need them, if the Philippine Sports Commission and private sponsors are willing to pay for them, anyway? For full story

I expect more of these from happening in the future if no drastic changes be done. It is hard being an athlete in this country that's why I don't disrespect them. I can only admire them for the sacrifices they are doing for the country and the occasional embarrassment they encounter playing abroad.