Thursday, July 24, 2008 Sheila Perez in her second Olympic stint
DAVAO City divers Sheila Mae Perez and Rexel Ryan Fabriga will try to bag medals for the country in the Beijing Olympics scheduled from August 8 to 24.
Both Perez and Frabriga are part of the 15 athletes who are leaving for Beijing on August 5 to compete in the world's premiere sports event, with taekwondo jins Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette River, and boxer Harry Tañamor among the country's top bets.
Perez, who had recovered from a back injury, will take another shot in her second Olympics stint following the 2000 Sydney Olympics while Fabriga will take the plunge for the very first time in the quadrennial games.
In the 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand last year, Perez won a gold medal in the three-meter springboard and a silver in the one-meter springboard event while Fabriga clinched a gold in men's 10-meter synchronized platform and a silver in men's 10m platform.
The two Davao divers may not be the favorites considering the presence of the mighty Chinese divers, but they are given good chances by the Philippine Sports Commission.
PSC chairman William "Butch" Ramirez said he had observed the divers' dedication during their trainings in China and at the Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna.
"I'm very proud of our divers because they really came from PSC's grassroots program. They were discovered in Davao City and that makes me even prouder to be a Dabawenyo and a Mindanaoan," Ramirez told Sun.Star Davao.
Sheila Mae Perez
Perez, who hails from Sasa but whose family now resides at the Tibungco Relocation Site, rose to sports stardom after experiencing a life of struggles as a middle daughter of a poor family.
Her life story was featured in one of Maalaala Mo Kaya's edition aired over giant TV network ABS-CBN in 2006.
She got into diving in 1995 when she was nine years old. She, fellow Sydney Olympian Zardo and some of their friends used to dive from old ships docked at the Naval Command Headquarters in Panacan.
Nestor Anselmo, then coach of the national diving team, brought her to Manila in 1997 to also be a part of the RP team. At 13, she broke into the international arena only in 1999 during the SEA Games in Brunei Darussalam.
And in 2000, she fulfilled her dream of competing in the Olympics. She competed in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in 2001 and at last brought home medals for the country - a silver medal in 3m springboard and a bronze in 10m platform.
The gold still evaded her in the 2003 Vietnam SEA Games but she made up for it in the 2005 Philippines SEA Games by collecting three golds - truly a rare feat that put her on the headlines of national broadsheets.
In one of her interviews, she said she eyes to compete in one more Asian Games and one more SEA Games before she retires.
Rexel Ryan Fabriga
Behind the glory of clinching SEA Games medals lies a story of a boy who at the tender age of 12 searched for greener pastures.
Fabriga went to the Big City with then national diver Angelita "Waway" Indonela not knowing what awaited him there.
But he was taken to the RP diving team only later at age 15.
His first international competition was the 2000 FINA Diving Grand Prix in Hong Kong but he didn't have beginner's luck though.
In the 2001 Grand Prix, he hurdled the same event with a fourth place finish in synchronized diving and 28th place in the individual category.
In the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, Korea, he placed fourth and fifth in individual and synchronized events, respectively.
But the setbacks didn't frustrate Fabriga.
Over at the Hanoi's National Aquatics Sports Complex diving pool, he sang aloud as the "Lupang Hinirang" was being played and the Philippine flag was hoisted not once, but twice for his twin gold wins.
He then followed it up with one gold and one silver in the 2005 Philippines SEA Games. (MLSA)
