Bemedalled tanker Molina retires

Miguel Molina, a Southeast Asian Games multi-gold medalist, has retired from competitive swimming, according to Philippine Aquatics Sports Association (PASA) president Mark Joseph.

The 26-year-old Molina, arguably the best Filipino swimmer after the Eric Buhain and Ryan Papa era, decided to retire in order to concentrate on his studies as he intends to take up a master’s degree. Another reason is to give young swimmers an opportunity to represent the country in international competitions. “He said that one of the reasons he retired was to give the younger ones the resources that he used to receive and spread it out to others. He wants the young swimmers to benefit from this," said Joseph in a radio interview over dzSR. Joseph, however, said that Molina intends to help Filipino swimmers in their development. “He wants to give back. He wants to come back to the Philippines and do coaching programs which, of course, we welcome with open arms." However, Joseph admitted that Molina’s retirement will be a big loss for the Philippine team. “There is still no one who can replace his versatility because he is a breaststroker, an individual medalist and a strong freestyle swimmer, which is important in the relays." With Molina’s retirement, PHL will now pin its hopes on Ryan Arabejo, Daniel Coakley, Charles Walker and Jessie Khing Lacuna, among others, for the men’s gold medals in the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia. Lacuna is one of the country’s budding stars in swimming, having shattered one of Molina’s national records last year. Lacuna clocked one minute and 50.90 seconds in a youth meet in Singapore in March last year, breaking Molina’s mark of 1:51.75 in the 200-meter freestyle in the 2009 Laos SEA Games. Lacuna went on to compete in the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore months after. "There’s already somebody who closed the gap (between Molina and the others)," said Joseph. Molina began his career with the Philippine team by winning the 200m freestyle gold medal in the 2003 Vietnam SEA Games. When the country hosted the 2005 SEA Games, Molina grabbed two gold medals, in the 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley. Molina’s career peaked when he was named the 2007 SEA Games Best Male Athlete after bagging four gold medals – 4x100m freestyle, 400m individual medley, 200m individual medley and 200m breaststroke – in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. That feat merited Molina the co-Athlete of the Year award from the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA), together with boxer Nonito Donaire. He capped his SEA Games career in Laos by winning the 200m and 400m individual medley gold medals in 2009. Molina was a two-time Olympian (2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing) and also competed in the Busan (2002), Doha (2006) and Guangzhou (2010) Asian Games. He was one of the top swimmers of the University of California swimming team in the US NCAA. – JVP, KY, GMANews.TV