I was sick as a dog. Didn't have BTV on my cable provider. Haven't seen a truly exciting Olympic event yet.But then, as I opened my rheumy eyes, I saw a little Philippine flag on the screen. I sat up and moved closer to the TV. It was a swimming competition and Fil-Am JB Walsh was striding towards the starting blocks.
The American announcers introduced the swimmers, taking the time to take a jab at Walsh, saying JB is a native of California swimming for a country he has barely any contact with.
And when the starter's gun barked, Walsh was the last man off the blocks. Not an auspicious start for the Pinoy swimmer. Halfway thru the event, Walsh was in sixth place, which got my praying "Don't finish last, don't finish last, don;t finish last..."
Then it happened. The "little engine that could" slowly moved up the ranks, chewing up liquified yardage in a hurry. By the time they made the last turn, Walsh was in fourth place and coming in a hurry.
With about half a lap to go, Walsh pulled into a tie for first place. By this time, I was off the bed, screaming "Get him, get him, get him!"
And he did. JB Walsh won heat #2 of the Olympic 200m butterfly event, shattered his RP mark and became the first Southeast Asian to go below 2minutes in this event.
On an aside, the American announcers gushed over JB Walsh after the scintillating victory, remarking how he came out of nowhere to win the heat. As we say in the Philippine...Belat!
Of course, when all was said and done, his time was good enough for just 29th place out of 44 swimmers (still a much better placing than the 37th place he earned in Athens). But for that brief moment in time, a Filipino was the best swimmer in the water.
Salamat, JB.
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