NO Filipino athlete has ever come close to winning a gold medal in the Paralympic Games since the country made its debut in the quadrennial sportsfest for para athletes in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea.
The best that Filipino campaigners could muster so far were a pair of bronze medals, courtesy of powerlifter Adeline Dumapong Ancheta and the late table tennis player Josephine Medina in the 2000 Sydney and 2016 Rio Para Games, respectively.
This time, however, a pint-sized swimmer with a sparkling personality from Olongapo City, Zambales looms as the best bet to break the country’s 26-year-old dry spell when the Paris Summer Paralympics are held next year.
Born without limbs, the 5-foot-2 Angel Mae Otom, 20, hopes to makes a splash in the quadrennial meet, having been ranked No. 2 in the women’s 50-meter backstroke S5 event in the latest world para swimming ratings.
The UP-Diliman College of Human Kinetics freshman earned that lofty rating after clocking 42 seconds flat in ruling the event in the recent World Para Swimming Series leg at the OCBC Aquatic Center in Singapore.
She is a mere two seconds behind Chinese No. 1 Lu Dong, who has the top clocking of 40.85 seconds set in the second leg of the series last March in Sheffield, England.
A triple gold medalist in her memorable debut in the 11th Asean Para Games in Surakarta, Indonesia in 2022, Otom, whose power-packed legs are built like tree trunks, is excited about her chances of qualifying and competing in the Paris Paralympics.
“Sana po, sana po,” said the bubbly Otom, who took to the sport like fish to water, growing up in their beach front home in Olongapo, of her chance of competing in the French capital.
But she admitted that winning the gold in the 50-meter backstroke would be a huge challenge considering that she will be up against the formidable Lu, 31, one of the swimming queens of the Tokyo Paralympics with four mints, the 50m back among them.
Otom will be able size up herself against the Chinese para swimming star when they see action in the Para Swimming World Championships from July 31 to Aug. 6 in Manchester, England.
She will also see action in the women’s 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley in the world meet, one of the major qualifiers for the Paris Paralympics.
“We are not pressuring Angel but asking her to stick to our program. Dapat lang mas maalagaan,” said national para swimming coach Tony Ong.
