It has been 76 years since the Philippines won a swimming medal at the Olympics. Two people who can change that in Beijing both live in Hawai'i.

Daniel Coakley, a 2007 graduate of Kealakehe, and Christel Simms, who will be a senior at Punahou, are part of the 15-member Philippine Olympic team that will be in the Opening Ceremony Friday.

Teofilo Yldefonzo won the country's only swimming medals when he captured bronze in the 200 breaststroke in 1928 and 1932. The country has won nine medals in the history of the Games. None are gold, which recently inspired the government to offer some $340,000 to any athlete who wins the country's first gold. Olympic boxer Manny Pacquiao, who won the WBC lightweight title in June, was among those from the private sector donating to the gold-medal cause.

Coakley found his way to the team initially through an Internet notice his brother saw looking for Filipinos to swim in the Manila Youth Games three years ago. He got to Manila only to discover FINA rules prevented him from swimming.

Coakley told the director he didn't care about medals, he simply wanted to "swim for my ancestors." He is half Hawaiian and one-quarter Filipino, on his mother's (Lani Eugenio) side, with some Japanese, Chinese, English, Irish and Scot. At that time in his life, what he recalled were his mother's memories of the men who often lived in poverty to support their families back in the Philippines.

"They sacrificed their youth, dying as old, forgotten Filipino men," Coakley remembered hearing. "My mother told me that when I swim, their spirits would be with me. And when I won, those spirits would be returning home as heroes."

It was a vivid memory that grew more realistic when the head of the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association organized an exhibition against the country's best swimmers. Coakley won his 50-meter freestyle race. It was "the beginning of the Philippine connection."

Two years later, he made the Olympic qualifying time in preliminaries at the Southeast Asian Games.

"Everybody thought it was just a one-time deal as I was still 17," Coakley said. "Coaches thought that the older, more experienced record-holders would actually win the race in the finals. Somehow, I knew that I could go faster, and when I broke the SEA Games record with a 22.80 swim, that established me as a real competitor, not just another kid."

He set the Hawai'i high school record in the 50-yard freestyle last year and has seemingly been in the water since. He has "graduated" from the 25-yard Kohala pool where father Jeffrey coached him from age 9 (and is now home to a mosaic honoring Daniel), and has been putting in 12,000-meter days in Florida and the Philippines to prepare for the Olympics.

"I didn't always want to stay with swimming. It is a lonely sport," Coakley admitted. "But I stayed with swimming because the water is my home, it's my life. The explosion of diving into the pool, that's refreshing ... I like the power of cutting through the water and the feel of the water over my head.

"The feel of the ocean is different, more spiritual, in a sense. For me, there's a strong cultural tie to the ocean. My Hawaiian ancestors are there. The ocean is comforting, relaxing ... like washing my cares away. It's about playing, diving for food and just pure enjoyment. So the ocean is like being at home with family and the pool is my workplace."

His time from the Southeast Asian Games came purely from training with his father. It is more than 1.5 seconds off the world record, and would have left him 24th at the U.S. Olympic Trials, but Coakley's workouts since have been intense, and now include weight training for the first time.

Daniel Zane Kailikoa Eugenio Coakley is now a dual citizen intent on bringing Filipino swimming into the world's focus at Beijing's "Water Cube," the billowing blue swimming arena built to make spectators feel as if they are submerged. If it doesn't happen now, there is 2012.

"I look forward to swimming in the Water Cube, but the thing I look forward to the most is the opening ceremony," Coakley said. "I've been at the opening ceremonies for both the ASEAN and Southeast Asian Games, which are the Olympics of Asia. The real Olympics is going to be even more amazing. I've seen it on TV from when I was little, and set the Olympics as a goal in my life. I can't wait for that celebration, the opening event where they recognize all the athletes."