The Philippines, in just its second participation at the
World Olympics, won its first ever Olympic medal, courtesy of the much-celebrated, trailblazing swimmer TEÓFILO YLDEFONSO (or Spanish “Yldefonzo”
as entered in Olympic record books). It was for Yldefonso’s historic
third place finish in the 200 meter Breaststroke swimming event at the 1928
Amsterdam Olympics, where he bagged the Bronze Medal. In 1932, he
would repeat that feat in the same event 4 years later at the 1932 Los
Angeles Olympics, winning another Bronze for the first ever
back-to-back win for the Philippines.
In his time, Yldefonso would be regarded as one of the best breaststrokers in the world, known for his unique style of doing the stroke closer to the surface, instead of underwater, which allowed for quicker recovery and faster speed. This “Yldefonso Style” would become popular with swimmers of smaller stature, which led to his being named “Father of the Modern Breaststroke”. Decades after his tragic death , the International Swimming Federation would honor Yldefonso with the ultimate accolade, by inducting him in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010.
An Ilocano Baby Shark is born.
Yldefonso was born on 11 November 1902 in Piddig, Ilocos Norte, one of 3 sons of Felipe Yldefonso and Aniceta de la Cruz, the middle of 3 siblings after Vicente and before Teodoro. Another brother died in infancy, and his own mother soon followed.
Despite these early tragedies, Teofilo, according to a 1938 article about his early life , “was raised in an environment mentally, and physically so healthy as to lay the foundation for his fighting heart and marvelous physique. Experimenting bit by bit, and growing bolder and more confident in himself as time went on, he taught himself the rudimentary principles of swimming.” It was said that Yldefonso learned to swim at the nearby Guisit River in his hometown.
Making Waves in the Military
Yldefonso joined the Philippine Scouts
under the command of the U.S. Army Philippine Division in 1922. At age 24, now a slim, muscular youth of
twenty four, Yldefonso raised his right hand and took the oath of
allegiance to the United States. He was assigned to Company
"D" 57th Infantry 'where he received his initiation into the
military, and found it to his liking. The young military was stationed at Fort
McKinley, and as part of his physical conditioning, he would refine his
self-taught swimming skills at Pasay Beach near Manila.
Yldefonso had not been three months in the service before he entered his first swimming meet. It was against the University of the Philippines which that year boasted as strong an aggregation of tank stars as had ever represented the University. He took second place for the McKinley team in the 200 yard breast-stroke. True, it was
but second place, but the young soldier, having tasted
once of the thrill of competition knew that greater things were in store — and
they were.
A Pool of
Talent at the Far Eastern Games
The sixth edition of the Far Eastern Championships
marked Yldefonso’s debut in this regional meet against Japanese and Chinese
athletes that was staged in Osaka, Japan in May 21-25, 1923. As if he
were just testing the waters, he placed second in his 100 m. breast stroke
event, ruled by the Japanese.
When he returned to the 1925 Far Eastern Games held in Manila, Yldefonso won Gold in the 220 Yds. breaststroke, and a Silver for 200 M. Men’s Relay. Another milestone achievement that same year was his marriage to Manuela Ella, with whom he would father 6 children.
In the next 3 stagings of the Far Eastern Games (1927 Shanghai, 1930 Tokyo, 1934 Manila) Yldefonso would dominate the 200 M. breaststroke winning 3 Golds in all 3 editions. By 1928, the name "Yldefonso", became synonymous with the sport of swimming. Soon the whole world was to hear of the self-taught merman.
A Man of
Bronze in Amsterdam
Yldefonso’s unparalled performance at the 3 Far Eastern Games made him an instant member of the compact Philippine Olympic team chosen to go to the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Four Filipino competitors comprised the selection, an improvement from the 1-man representative in 1924: 2 in Athletics (Anselmo Gonzaga for the sprints, Simeon Toribio for the High Jump) and 2 in Swimming. Yldefonso had a companion in the person of a spectacular Tausug swimmer, Tuburan Tamase, who specialized in middle to long distance swimming races.
It must have been an exciting journey for Yldefonso to travel for the first time to Europe, to Netherlands of tulips and windmills, so far removed from his humble Piddig hometown. But the thrill of competition was far greater as the swimming events went underway in August 1928.
To get to the finals, the well-built, 161 pound, 5 ft. 7 athlete had to hurdle the preliminary
series or heats. There were 4 series of 5 swimmers each. Only the top 8
finishers of the heats will advance to the Semifinals. Yldefonso was in Series
3, and finished the race with a time of
2 min. 56 and 2/5 secs. But since there were ties (Yldefonso and German Erwin
Sietas were in joint 5th, Canada’s W. Spence and Austria’s K.
Schafer were in joint 4th ), nine swimmers made it to the semifinals).
Two Semifinal races were held to determine the 6 finalists. Yldefonso was in the series with the Japanese Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, who had topped the preliminaries. He came in 3rd, improving his time to 2:53 and 1/5 of a second. Of the 6 finalists, he had the third best time, with Tsuruta on top.
On 8 August 1928, the 200 m., the breaststroke finals
were held before jampacked crowd at the Olympic natatorium. Yldefonso
was in the outermost lane, next to the German Sietas. At the sound of
the gun, the swimmers dove into the 50 meter pool and began their strokes, 4
laps in all. Japan’s Tsuruta won a clear Gold, clocking in at 2 mins. 48
4/5 secs—a new Olympic record. Germany’s Erich Rademacher came in
2 seconds later, at 2 mins. 50 3/5 secs., for the Silver medal. Yldefonso
and Sietas practically clawed their way to the wall, but Yldefonso
touched first to claim the Bronze Medal, at 2 mins. 56 2/5 secs. Sietas was
just 1/5 of a second behind.
Yldefonso’s Bronze would be the very first Olympic medal to be won by a Filipino across all sports; but to a jubilant Philippines, it was just as good as Gold. Upon his return from Amsterdam, he was met with tumultuous reception by his countrymen, was feted by his proud comrades of the 57th Infantry Regiment, and was given medals of recognition by his U.S. Army Commander.
In the Swim
of Things Between Olympics
Never to rest on his laurels, Yldefonso continued
his swimming career with the next Olympics in mind. In 1929, he was sent to the
1st Philippine-Formosa Dual Meet, a biennial swimming
championship goodwill even that would run until the 1950s.
As usual, the “Ilocano Shark” was unbeatable in his favorite breaststroke event and was part of the 4-man freestyle relay team that won Gold. His winning streak continued later in the year at Philippine National Championships, even trying out longer distances with success—he placed 2nd in the 1,500 m. race. He also medalled at the 1930 Philippine Military Department Meet.
His most important meet however was the 1930 Far
Eastern Games held in Tokyo, Japan. In the 200 m. breaststroke
finals, he turned the table on the 1928 Olympic champion Yoshiyuki Tsuruta.
It could be recalled that Yldefonso placed 3rd to Tsuruta in
Amsterdam, but this time, he won the Gold convincingly, to the dismay of the
hometown crowd.
Then, as a tune up to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, Yldefonso made a splash once more at the 1931 Phil. National Championships and the Phil.-Formosa Dual Meet, sweeping all the breaststroke golds. His only rare miss was at the 1932 Philippine Military Dept. Meet where he placed second in the 220 Yds. breaststroke event, but came back to win Gold at the Philippine National Championships.
PART II FOLLOWS
