A HERO'S welcome awaits 2021 Asian Youth Para Games swimming gold medalist Ariel Joseph Alegarbes, 17, as he returns home to Victorias City, Negros Occidental soon.
Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca said Sunday, December 5, that Alegarbes is a pride not only of Victorias City but of the whole Philippines.
Palanca said Alegarbes is an inspiration to other people and youth like him, adding that the athlete will also serve as a reminder to other parents whose children are also physically challenged that they should treat them as assets.
He recalled seeing Alegarbes when he was just a young boy running around the basketball court of Victorias City and told his father, former Sangguniang Kabataan chairman Abner Alegarbes, to enroll the boy in swimming lessons.
Palanca said the young athlete trained at the Victorias' motor pool for a while until he competed in Bacolod City.
The elder Alegarbes told SunStar Bacolod that they initially enrolled his son in swimming lessons as he was asthmatic. But on the eighth day, they were told by the coach that he was a fast swimmer.
Aside from joining as a novice swimmer in Bacolod City, he said that his son also competed in the Palarong Pambansa before his stint in the international para games.
At first, they struggled with finances and other logistics like plane tickets whenever his son was competing in other provinces, but several individuals helped them, he also said.
“We were overwhelmed that in his first international stint, he was already able to snatch gold despite his physical challenges,” the elder Alegarbes said.
His son was also diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with language and learning disorder with dyslexia when he was five years old.
Asked for his message to his son, he said, “you are already on top, (but) just keep your feet on the ground.”
Alegarbes bagged the first gold medal for the Philippines in Manama, Bahrain after clocking 1.96 minutes to complete his golden finish in the medal race of the S14 100-meter butterfly event on Friday, December 3.
This is the first gold medal for the Philippines since 2013.