Fil-Am swimmer bags 13 gold medals in Palau Micro Games

SAIPAN, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas — Filipino-American swimmer Rezne Wong received a hero's welcome here after a successful 13-gold medal haul in the 7th Micronesian Games in Koror, Palau. The 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Hawaii-Manoa bagged nine individual, including the 5-kilometer open water swim, and three relay gold medals for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) at the Palau National Stadium. The CNMI, a US territory in the Western Pacific, is more than 1,000 miles away from Palau and the Philippines. He won the gold in the 200m and 400m individual medley, 100m and 200m backstroke, 100m and 800m freestyle, 50m, 100m, and 200m butterfly, and the open water ocean swim. Wong also teamed up with Kai Staal and brothers Kensuke and Shin Kimura to bag the gold medals in the 200m and 400m medley and 400m freestyle relays. His only non-gold medal performance in the quadrennial event was a runner up finish to Staal in the 50m freestyle. The son of Ely Wong of Zamboanga and the former Millet San Jose of Bulacan said he never dreamed of winning 13 gold medals – 14 in total. "I did expect to win about eight medals, but I would never imagine that I would get 13. Even more, I improved a lot of my times. I always valued a good time over winning a gold medal, but now I got the best of both worlds," said Wong. He also thanked his teammates who helped him in the relay events that hiked his medal haul and his coach that guided him while training for the Micro Games. "I am also very happy for my teammates for their own medal haul, and the good swims they provided for the relays. I wouldn’t have these many gold medals without my relay team." "Also, I'd like to thank [CNMI men’s swim) coach Hiro Kimura for his excellent decisiveness and trust in his instinct on what events to make us swim. It’s a tough job putting swimmers in their right events and what they should swim during the relays," he said. Wong added he owes his success in Palau to his grueling training at UH-Manoa, where he swims for the varsity team under head coach Victor Wales, and his local team, Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan. "I wouldn’t have won 13 gold medals if it wasn't for my training in UH-Manoa. It really helped my quickness, racing discipline, speed, acceleration, and endurance in the short course pool. Tsunami really helped me gain back my cardiopulmonary fitness, which completed my peak performance in the Micro Games," said Wong. His parents being Filipinos, Wong also hopes to one day represent the Philippines in an international event and it appears the interest is mutual. "I e-mailed Jason Calanog, the RP national swimming coach during the FINA World Championships in Rome, about my times and improvements. It turns out that he has been keeping up with my times," he said. Next week, Wong heads back to UH-Manoa, where he is studying Marine Biology. He is also expected to jump right back into training with the Rainbow Warriors swimming team. He is hoping to someday don the National tri colors. "Hopefully I can train with coach Calanog and some RP swimmers in Florida next summer. No news yet in representing them for any events soon, but I'm hoping I can represent them within two years." - JVP, GMANews.TV