THE Philippines just had a successful hosting of the 11th Asian Age Group Championships held at the New Clark City, attracting 30 countries, including swimming powerhouses.

But more than just the hosting job, we are already recognized in that area, I believe this event augurs well for swimming, long in the doldrums because of internal problems in the past.

We finished 14th out of the 30 countries. The top 3 were Japan, Kazakhstan, and Thailand with 48, 30, and 19 gold medals, respectively. We won 1 gold, 1 silver, and 4 bronzes.

Out of those 6 medals we won, half came from one swimmer, 15 year old James Ray Michael Ajido from La Salle-Greenhills. He took the gold in the 100m. butterfly, his favorite event he says,
posting a come from behind victory and to add luster to that achievement, he also set a new Asian junior record.

Ajido clocked 55.98 to break the previous record of 56.36 held by Chinese-Taipei’s Wang Yu Xiang abd that stood up for 5 years until this year. On top of his gold medal, Ajido also went home with our lone silver too, in the 50m butterfly and a bronze in the 50m freestyle.

Together with his mother and main supporter Lovell and Jun Esturco who advises the family on marketing related matters involving the swimmer, Ajido dropped by the PSC last week for a courtesy call, bringing his 3 medals, which I borrowed for a make believe shot that I won them.

I took the opportunity to interview Ajido and his Mom at the office of PSC Commissiober Wawit Torres as Comm. Fritz Gaston was out of town, and learned that in just seven years in competitive swimming, he already has close to 500 medals won, mostly gold and silver, with 94 won just in 2024, including his dominance of the 2023 Batang Pinoy where he won 3 golds , all record breakers.

His mom shared that just like other young kids then seven years ago, her son was too much into internet games but was convinced to go into swimming, and since then has been spending a lot of time in the pool with evident good results.

His motivation, win medals for the country, his dream, compete in the Olympics carrying the country’s colors.

And this is what I mean about having an Olympic hopeful who is not just hoping but is working hard to realize his dream, at 15 years old, four years from now, the 2028 Olympics will be hosted by Los Angeles, by that time, Ajido will be at his peak age .

And the advantage in swimming is that a single athlete can take home multiple medals in different events in the same discipline.

In fact, the record of having the most number of Olympic medals belong to American swimmer Michael Phelps with 28, with 23 golds. Also, in 2008 in Beijing, he won 8 golds, breaking the decades old record of 7 golds in an Olympic event by another swimner Mark Spitz, he accomplished this in Munich.

Going back to Ajido, yes, he can be a bright prospect but he will need all the support he can and stay focused on his goal to make it to the Olympics.

His mom mentioned that two years ago, her son received an offer for an athletic scholarship ftom the United Kingdom but the family did not take it, concerned about Ajido’s young age at that time.

But then if he really wants to go to the Olympics, we all know that training and competing abroad will be the key, and the family has to re evaluate its position on allowing Ajido to go abroad to study and train, he sure does have the potential.

A home grown talent who trains under former national swimner Evan Grabador, and that is what I like about this boy, Ajido has shown he can develop himself here, but then what more if he trains abroad?

Right now, he is looking at this year’s ASEAN Championships which he should be able to dominate in his events, then next year, he has his sights set on the SEA Games.

.As long as he does not forget that winning in the ASEAN and SEA level will not guarantee him a ticket to the Olympics, he has to go beyond.

That is the pathway for him to follow and I wish him the best of luck in this journey.

It has been a long time since we had international success in this event. Maybe, just maybe, Ajido can bring back those times.