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Swimmer Ernie Gawilan enters Paralympics as Team PH’s most accomplished representative

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Manolo Pedralvez

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1422383" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>National Paralympic swimmer Ernie Gawilan is beginning to sense the immense pressure that weightlifter <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/26/21/gold-at-last-hidilyn-writes-ph-sports-history-as-olympic-champ">Hidylin Diaz</a> felt before she plunged into action at the last Tokyo Olympics.“Damang-dama na talaga po ang pressure. Kinabakabahan. Pero napaglalabanan naman po (I can really feel the pressure. I feel nervous, but it is nothing I cannot handle,” said the soft-spoken Gawilan, the most accomplished athlete among the Filipino campaigners poised to compete in the World Paralympic Games opening Tuesday in Tokyo.While not expected to duplicate Diaz’s Olympic golden success, expectations are high for the Davao City pride and ethnic Lumad to land a podium finish considering the depth of his past achievements in international competition.Gawilan’s latest accomplishment was bagging a bronze medal in June at the Internationale Deutsche Meisterschaften Berlin 2021 World Para Swimming Series in the men’s S7 400-meter freestyle in a time of 5 minutes and 3.74 seconds.It was a significant feat against the cream of para swimmers from all over the world, one made even more astonishing when the swimmer revealed that he and his fellow national teammate Gary Bejino had only 3 weeks of pool time before they competed in Berlin. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/15/21/medal-not-impossible-for-ph-paralympians-says-official">A medal not far-fetched for Pinoy Paralympians in Tokyo, says delegation head</a></li></ul>Before that, he made a splash at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, emerging from the pool with golds in the S7 men’s 400-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter individual medley events, plus silvers in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle races. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/08/21/pinoy-jin-allain-ganapin-gains-tokyo-paralympics-berth">Pinoy jin Allain Ganapin gains Tokyo Paralympics berth</a></li></ul>Gawilan was also the toast of the national Paralympic team at the 2015 Singapore ASEAN Para Games with 2 golds and 1 silver, which he matched in the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur.Not bad for someone from a humble background who was orphaned at a young age and raised by his grandparents.He recalled that it was a friend of his grandfather, the late Davao City businessman Vicente Ferrazini, who convinced the lolo and the young Gawilan to be taken under his wing, enrolling the young boy at the Our Lady of Victoria training center for youth with physical handicaps.“Nakatulong ng malaki paglipat ko sa training center, nakabukod mga bata sa matatanda kaya naging maganda ang paglaki ko doon,” Gawilan remembered of his time at the institution run by Maryknoll nuns.He said it was Sister Cecilia Wood, who ran the training center from 1989 to 2010, who took him as a housekeeper at another center also managed by nuns on Samal Island, which overlooks Davao City, in 2000, where developed his love for swimming.A 2014 article posted on <a href="https://www.spin.ph/life/guide/legless-swimming-wonder-ernie-gawilan-survived-abortion-and-orphaned-childhood-and-now-dreams-of-being-an-olympian">Spin.ph</a> recalled his inauspicious beginning as a competitive swimmer. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/03/03/20/swimmer-gawilan-named-flag-bearer-for-asean-para-games">Swimmer Gawilan named flag bearer for ASEAN Para Games</a></li></ul>As a protégé of coach Mark Jude Corpuz, who recruited Gawilan as a member of a team of swimmers with disabilities at the Forest Hills resort in Davao City, the swimmer was nearly disqualified at a Philippine Olympic Committee Olympic Festival meet in 2008 when he forgot his trunks.The story mentioned that someone lent Gawilan bulky cargo shorts and, despite that, finished a strong second in the event behind a national para swimmer, who was so impressed by the former’s performance that he took the Davao City tyro to Manila to try out for the national squad.His talent did not escape the eyes of then national para swimming coaches Tony Ong and Ral Rosario, a 1978 Bangkok Asian Games gold medalist, becoming a full-time member of the national squad in 2009 to launch the diminutive swimmer’s phenomenal career.Together with wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan, Gawilan is a veteran of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and saw action in the S8 men’s 100, 400 and 100-meter backstroke events, but failed to advance beyond the heats.This time around, however, the athlete is ranked No. 10 in the men’s 400-meter freestyle with his bronze-medal time of 5:03.74 in the Berlin meet, so carries the added burden of reeling in the country’s third medal from the quadrennial sportsfest of the best para athletes in the world.Table tennis player Josephine Medina went home with a bronze medal at Rio 2016, 16 years after powerlifter Adeline Dumapong Ancheta first did the same thing in the country’s initial podium appearance at Sydney 2000.The red-letter day for heats and finals of the 400-meter freestyle event is on Aug. 29, and Gawilan acknowledged that it was a daunting prospect when ranged against top caliber opposition from the US and Europe.“Karaniwan mas malaki ang mga swimmer sa Europe at US kaysa sa akin. Pero katulad ng sinabi ko, hindi para mag-bato-bato pick sa hirap ng pinagdaanan namin para makarating sa Tokyo. (Usually the swimmers from the US and Europe are much bigger than me. But like we said earlier, we are not there to just play rock-paper-scissors because of the hardships we faced to reach Tokyo),” he stressed. Like what they did in Berlin, Gawilan and Bejino are cramming again, hoping that a month’s practice at the Philippine Science High School indoor 50-meter pool under the supervision of coach Ong will be enough to make them competitive for the World Para Games.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/20/20/swimming-ernie-gawilan-first-pinoy-to-qualify-for-2020-paralympics">Swimming: Ernie Gawilan first Pinoy to qualify for 2020 Paralympics</a></li></ul>Gawilan was grateful to the Philippine Sports Commission to be given actual workouts together with Bejino amid the COVID-19 pandemic to tune both of them up for the challenges that await in Tokyo.The national para swimmer is encouraged by the words of PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez when he gave a pep talk during the virtual send-off of the PH World Para contingent last Thursday.“Ang sabi ni chairman Butch na huwag magpadala sa pressure habang ibigay namin lahat ng aming makakaya para sa bayan at mag-enjoy kami sa Tokyo ng kausapin niya kami lahat sa send-off ng PSC kamakailan (Chairman Butch told us not to be caught in the pressure while we give our all for our country and enjoy our moment in Tokyo,” Gawilan said.More likely, too, the swimmer’s memory will drift back to the shaky beginning of his competitive swimming career 13 years ago so as not to be dragged down by the pressure of the moment and, like Diaz, surface from the Tokyo Aquatic Centre with flying colors.<div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1751743" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Ernie Gawilan is no stranger to landing medals in international competition; he hopes he adds to his personal haul in Tokyo. 