PARIS — Para swimming head coach Tony Ong kept his instructions to swimmer Angel Mae Otom simple as she competes in the women’s 50-meter butterfly S5 event at the 17th Paralympic Games on Friday, September 6, 2024, at the La Defense Arena pool: give your best and reach the finals.
Expect Otom to heed those instructions to heart, beginning with the heats at 10:10 a.m. (4 p.m. in Manila) where she will be side-by-side with sensational Chinese defending champion Lu Dong, who will be gunning for her second individual gold.
Ranked No. 2 in the world with a time of 46.39 seconds entering the quadrennial sportsfest, the armless wonder from Olongapo City will have learned her lessons from her Paralympic debut two days ago when she finished sixth in the women’s 50-meter backstroke S5 race.
Now with Lu on lane 4 and she on lane 3, Otom will be tested to the hilt if she has what it takes to keep up with the Chinese star known as the “Armless Mermaid,” with the top eight qualifiers from two heats advancing to the finals set at 5:59 p.m. (11:59 p.m. Manila time).
“Sayang, sayang,” the swimmer said two days ago after matching the powerhouse Chinese trio of Lu, He Shenggao, and Liu Yu stroke for stroke, seemingly poised to achieve a podium finish and break the country’s eight-year-old dry spell at the Games, before running out of steam in the last 15 meters.
Deputy para-swimming coach Brian Ong, the head coach’s son, disclosed that boosting Otom’s mental toughness in her last event at Europe’s largest indoor arena was one aspect they would work on in the stint supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
“We are looking forward to her outing in the women’s 50-meter butterfly on Friday,” said the coach, confident that the athlete would go all out in the country’s last-ditch bid to win a medal in this meet featuring the crème de la crème of physically-challenged bets from 168 nations.
The late table tennis player Josephine Medina was the last to achieve a podium finish in bringing home a bronze medal from the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PR
