EARNING the highest FINA points among Filipinos after competing in Olympic qualifying meets, Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule are set to be awarded universality places at the Tokyo Olympics by the International Swimming Federation and will be the country’s latest campaigners to the Olympic Games opening on July 23 in Tokyo.
Philippine Swimming Inc. president Lani Velasco yesterday said Gebbie and Rule will see action in two events each, with the former competing in the men’s 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle and the latter competing in the women’s 200 and 100-meter butterfly events.
“Gebbie and Rule earned universality places by garnering the highest FINA points among Filipinos after competing in Olympic qualifying competitions,” said Velasco, adding that the Lausanne-based world swimming authority will formally announce the universality places later in the day.
“We would like to congratulate Remedy and Luke for earning the right to represent Philippine swimming at the Olympic Games,” said Velasco, who thanked the Philippine Sports Commission for its all-out support to the swimmers in their Olympic qualifying campaigns.
She said that Rule, who bagged two silvers and one bronze medal in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, earned 830 FINA points with her bronze-medal finish in the women’s 200m butterfly event at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Des Moines, Iowa on March 5, 2020, setting a national record of two minutes and 9.58 seconds.
The Melbourne-based Gebbie earned 795 FINA points in the men’s 50-meter freestyle race in booking a new national record of 22.57 seconds in the heats of the Swimming Australia Olympic trials last June 17, erasing his old mark of 22.62 seconds when he copped the bronze in the 2019 30th Southeast Asian Games.
A former mainstay of the University of Texas varsity swimming team, Rule also earned 808 FINA points in clocking 59.55 seconds in the women’s 100m butterfly event during the heats of the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite & Time Trials last May 5 in Austin, Texas.
Her times in both events are within the Olympic Selection Time (OST) or “B-cut” times of 2:12.28 and 59.66 seconds, for each event, respectively.
