News
Arabejo ’09 Featured in Philippine Newspaper Story
Bolles rising senior Ryan Arabejo was featured in the following story, published June 18 in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Arabejo will compete for the Philippines in swimming at the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.
Asthma-prone kid now an Olympic swimmer
By Jasmine W. Payo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines —He has come a long way for a child who once had difficulty breathing.
For over a decade, Philippine Olympic bet Ryan Arabejo had found both relief and reward in the pool waters.
“I started swimming when I was four because I had asthma attacks very frequently; so my doctor advised my mom that I need to do swimming so I can get rid of my asthma,” said Arabejo.
Apparently, the prescription turned out to be a platform for Arabejo to shine.
From a school and club champion, Arabejo transformed into a teen sensation by capturing six gold medals in the 2005 Palarong Pambansa to become the most bemedalled athlete in the secondary division.
A potential talent in the national stable, Arabejo soon earned a high school scholarship in Bolles School in Florida under the Olympic Solidarity Program.
“I am being handled by the most talented and one of the best coaches in the world,” said Arabejo of Bolles' Spanish head coach Sergio Lopez, an Olympic medalist in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. “I'm also swimming with world class athletes.”
His US training clearly did wonders as the 18-year-old tanker shattered the Philippine record in the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of 15 minutes and 39.86 seconds during the 12th FINA World Championships in April 2007.
More impressively, the record earned Arabejo a slot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics by finishing six seconds faster than the Olympic qualifying standard time of 15:45.12.
Eight months later, Arabejo again made waves in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games by capturing three gold medals in the 200m backstroke, 1500m freestyle and the 400m medley relay and a bronze in the 400m freestyle.
“The SEA (Southeast Asian) Games is beginning to be more and more competitive as the years go by; there are so many young and upcoming swimmers, but 2007 was a very good year for me,” said Arabejo in an e-mail interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Arabejo also holds the Philippine record in the 400m freestyle (3:58.51), the 50m backstroke (28.29) and the 400m medley relay along with fellow Olympic bets Miguel Molina, James Walsh and Daniel Coakley (3:49.28).
As the Olympics draws near, Arabejo believes he's right on track to compete in the Games' longest swimming event.
“My feeling of the water during training is very good which means that I am in shape and ready,” said Arabejo. “I have been training long and doing strenuous workouts since August last year. We are concentrating now on speed endurance and building up my power. We are doing a lot of dry land for strength. We are also concentrating on endurance when I'm swimming. Stroke efficiency is also important for my event so we are also working on that.”
For his event, Arabejo said swimmers from the United States and Australia will be his toughest opponents.
“My goal for the Olympics is to have a solid swim. Hopefully I can make it to a respectable finish. I also want to go for my best times. This Olympics will be the gauge of where I am now. But none of this will be possible if I don't have fun on my races. So that is my target, to have fun and swim the race.”