Olympian Kayla Sanchez granted change of allegiance from Canada to Philippines to represent the country
Swimmer Kayla Sanchez, a silver and bronze medalist in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of Canada's women's 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay teams, respectively, changes allegiance to represent the Philippines.
Philippine Swimming Inc. announced on Thursday that the 21-year-old athlete has decided to transfer to the Philippines in the hopes of representing the country in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Swimming Canada granted Sanchez her release after the world championship in Budapest, Hungary, where she won silver and bronze in the freestyle relay just last month.
“I’ve always been really proud of my Filipino heritage,” Sanchez said Thursday in a statement from Swimming Canada.
“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. I want to help inspire people that are like me to swim and get into the sport.”
Sanchez was born to Filipino parents in Singapore, spent some time in the Philippines before moving to Toronto.
After training at the Ontario high-performance center 2016, she made her international debut for Canada at the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Maui, USAwhere she won silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
She had been a member of the Canadian team since 2017.
"Kayla has been a great team member, center member and swimmer for Canada and we will miss her,” Swimming Canada's high-performance director and national coach John Atkinson said in the statement.
"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 career where I can start to focus on myself and at the same time I’m hoping to help people in the Philippines” Sanchez then added.
Tags: #swimming, #national team, #Canada, #2024ParisOlympics