THE Philippines lost one potential gold medal in swimming after Filipino-Australian Luke Michael Gebbie failed his RT-PCR test in time for his entry to Hanoi for the 31st Southeast Asian Games.
The Tokyo Olympian Gebbie shared a silver medal in men’s 4×100 meters freestyle relay and bronze in the 50 meters freestyle.
Gebbie didn’t get past the qualifying heats in Tokyo but set a Philippine record of 49.64 seconds in the 100m freestyle. He also owns the national record in 50m freestyle (22.57 seconds) and 50m butterfly (24.34 seconds) which he set in the New Clark City in the 2019 SEA Games.
Three other Filipino athletes in kickboxing initially tested positive for the virus but were cleared after a retest early last week.
“Too bad he tested positive,” Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said on Saturday. “That’s one less medal—a potential gold at that—in our campaign.”
Gebbie was supposed to be one of the 16-member aquatics team to Hanoi.
