Ben Madilynn
PARIS – Para swimmer Angel Mae Otom had ambivalent feelings about her debut in the 17th Paris Paralympic Games Tuesday at the La Defense Arena pool here.
While grateful that she was competing against the world’s best, Otom felt discontented about her form, believing that she could have done better than her sixth-place finish in the women’s 50-meter backstroke S5 finals with a time of 44 seconds flat in the evening (early morning Wednesday).
“Masaya akong nandito pero sayang, sayang. Pangit yung last 15 meters ko. Pinilit ko lang matapos maski sa sakit na naramdaman ko (I’m happy to be here, but it’s a shame, really a shame. My last 15 meters were terrible. I just pushed through to finish despite the pain I felt),” added the armless swimmer, who had kept pace early with the vaunted Chinese troika, led by defending champion Lu Dong.
Living up to her top billing, Lu led in clinching her second straight gold in the event with 37.51 seconds while compatriots He Shenggao (39.93) and Liu Yu (42.37) took the bronze, respectively.
“Hindi ako masaya sa langoy ko. Hopefully, next game alam ko na yung areas to improve (I’m not happy with my swim. Hopefully, in the next event, I’ll know which areas to improve),” said Otom, who was once ranked No. 2 in the event and seemed poised for a podium finish only to fade in. PR
