The Team Philippines that is neck-deep in training in the French city of Metz keeps getting bigger.
Philippine Aquatics Inc. (PAI) secretary general Eric Buhain said they will be sending Kayla Sanchez and Jarrod Hatch in the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC)-organized training camp in France to join the rest of the Filipino athletes preparing for the Paris Olympics.
Buhain said Sanchez is still in Canada while Hatch is in Los Angeles but they will enter the La Moselle camp this Saturday.
“They’re only training now. Kayla is in Canada and Jarod is in Los Angeles.”
“She’s going to La Moselle for the training camp in Metz on June 29. So, she’ll be there for the whole duration up to the Olympic Games. They are penciled to arrive by then.”
Sanchez will be making a return to the Olympics after winning a bronze medal in a relay competition for Canada in Tokyo three years ago.
She failed to qualify but she was endorsed by the PAI to use one of the Philippines’ two universality places, which is also commonly known as wildcard spots that are given to athletes from countries who do not have entries in centerpiece sports like athletics and aquatics.
Aside from Sanchez, also using the universality place will be Hatch, a Southeast Asian Games medalist who will compete in the men’s 100-meter freestyle event in the Summer Games.
“Hatch and Sanchez will join us here on 29 June,” said POC secretary general Wharton Chan, who is in Metz along with the national delegation headed by POC chief Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and chef de mission Jonvic Remulla.
Sanchez and Hatch will be competing with something to prove in their first ever Olympic stint for the Philippines.
In fact, the federation’s previous nominated athletes for universality place — Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule — figured prominently in the Tokyo Games.
Gebbie set a national record in the men’s 100-meter freestyle with a clocking of 49.64 seconds while Rule made it to the semifinals of the women’s 200-meter butterfly event en route to finishing 15th overall.
Buhain believes that in order to get into the semifinals, both Hatch and Sanchez have to swim at least a second faster than their best times.
“Actually, the semifinals are the top 24 in the world, which is roughly a second away from the world record or a second and a half in their event. So it’s going to be very tough,” said Buhain, an elite swimmer during his prime who competed in the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
