Kayla Sanchez to compete for PH in the 2024 Paris Olympics

Kayla Sanchez, a two-time Olympic medalist who previously represented Canada’s National team, is set to appear in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, representing the Philippines. 

Who is Kayla Sanchez?

Sanchez, 23, is a Filipino-Canadian born in Singapore on April 7, 2001 to overseas Filipino parents. Her father Noel came from Mabalacat, Pampanga, while her mother Susana hailed from Baguio. At the age of two, Sanchez and her family moved to Ontario, Canada.

She shared in an interview with MYX in 2022 that her family migrated to the Great White North to seek greener pastures.

“My parents really wanted the best for me. They wanted to make sure I had a good education, and I had all the opportunities that I could get abroad in Canada, so I’m really lucky that they chose to uproot their whole lives just for me, said Sanchez.

Her mom, on the other hand, described her daughter as a “go-getter.” 

“When Kyla was a child, she’s always been a go-getter, academically, and when she reached high school, she’s always in the honor roll,” Susana said.

Sports Background

Sanchez learned to swim at age four and started swimming in competitions at age eight. In 2016, she began training at the Ontario high-performance center.

Her training paid off when she won a bronze medal in the 200-m freestyle at the 2017 Canadian Swimming Trials which gave her a spot in Canada’s national team. 

The swimmer specializes in sprint freestyle and backstroke, making her role significant in Canada’s relays, as written on SwimSwam’s article.

Remarkable performances 

Photo courtesy: kaylasanchez | Instagram

Her first major international competition was the 2017 World Junior Swimming Championships in Indianapolis, where she won two gold medals in the women’s 4×100-m and 4×200-m freestyle relay. 

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was postponed, it began only a year after, in July 2021. By this time, Sanchez is qualified to join the event after winning gold in the 50-m freestyle during the Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials in June 2021. This achievement was a significant step in her swimming career.

In addition, Sanchez also became a two-time world silver medallist from her outstanding performance at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.

Olympic debut

She proved her striking skills when she won a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. She swam the leadoff leg for the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay. This was Canada’s first medal for the 2020 Olympics. 

She also bagged a bronze medal for her anchor swimming in the heats for the women’s 4x100m medley relay, making her a two-time Olympic medalist. All the more remarkable as it was her first Olympic game. 

Back to the Philippines

Her last plunge for Canada was during the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. It was in the same year when she switched her sporting citizenship to the Philippines.

“Aside from how much I’ve grown and how good everything has been in Canada, I needed to make this really difficult decision for myself and my family to take this opportunity to represent the Philippines,” Kayla told Swimming Canada. 

But the two-time Olympic medalist remained grateful to Canada for shaping her to be the athlete she is today.

She also expressed her pride in having her Filipino roots and her hopes to inspire others to take up the sport. 

“It’s just a point in my life where it’s time for a change. I am stepping into a new point in my swim[ming] career where I can start to focus on myself and at the same time I’m hoping to help people in the Philippines,” Sanchez explained.

Despite the Philippine Olympic Committee’s (POC) full support for Sanchez, the swimmer still had to make the huge transition from being in a well-funded Canadian swimming program to competing for the Philippines. 

“We are not even a spending a hundredth of what they are investing and now we want to do better than them (with Sanchez)? How?” Swiss swimming mentor Luka Gabrilo asked as written in ABS-CBN news. 

“Kayla at the moment is facing so many changes. So let’s give her some space and not pressure that much,” he added. 

Sanchez first represented the Philippines at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China where she placed fifth overall in the women’s 100m freestyle. 

How did she meet the qualifications for the 2024 Paris Olympics?

The International Olympic Committee’s approval of Sanchez’s change of nationality came about after the IOC granted the swimmer the special exemption, this lessened the required three-year waiting period to only a year of PH residency for switching federations.

Sanchez, who qualified for the Women’s 100m Freestyle category, will compete in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Her spot was secured after being nominated by the Philippine Aquatics, Inc. for the Universality spot, which is given to athletes with underrepresented countries in the Olympics. 

What is expected from her as this year’s PH representative

Photo courtesy: kaylasanchez | Instagram

As Sanchez can now represent her newly adopted country, Filipinos are now awaiting the possible end of a 91-year-long medal drought in the swimming competition at the Olympic Games. The Philippines won its first and second Olympic medals when Teofilo Yldefonso secured bronzes from 1928 to 1932. Since then, the country hasn’t won Olympic medals in swimming. 

Last year, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol’’ Tolentino guaranteed that Sanchez will benefit from the “same template of success” being enjoyed by Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo and Europe-based world No. 3 pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena as the committee will see to it that Sanchez will have a team of nutritionist, sports psychologist and physiotherapist apart from her coaches, as reported by Philippine Canadian News. 

“We plan to surround her with a team of experts, just like what we did for Hidilyn Diaz,’’ Tolentino said in a Philippine Daily Inquirer Report.

Moreover, she posted on her Instagram page on July 4, 2024, “I swam my fastest times in two years two weeks ago, and I am emotional and thankful to everyone who was a part of that,” thanking her previous coach in Canada, also mentioning her coaches since her switch of nationality. 

Sanchez’s performance at the upcoming Olympic Games will be fruitful as her training is held at New Clark City Aquatics Center, the only Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA)-approved swimming facility in the Philippines. 

Given her record of wins, her quality training, and support from the Philippine Olympic Committee, Sanchez’s performance in the upcoming Olympics will surely raise the Philippine flag as she has done in Canada. 

With reports from Naomi Viehl D. Politico