Akiko Thomson

University of California-Berkele, Ateneo de Manila University

Olympian and Asian Games swimmer

Libra

Gillian Akiko Thomson (popularly known as Akiko Thomson) was a Filipino swimmer. She was born in United States (where she grew up) to a white American father and part-Japanese/part-Filipino mother. She joined swimming in the Southeast Asian Games in 1991 and Olympics in 1992. 5 years after she joined international gaming events, she became one of the contract T.V. reporters of the investigative journalism production Probe Productions.

Akiko Thomson began swimming at age 6. At 12, she became a member of the Philippine National Swimming Team, and at 13 represented the country at the Southeast Asian Games in 1988. Akiko is a bemedaled athlete and veteran of five Olympic competitions: in Seoul, Barcelona, and Atlanta; and as a coach in Sydney and Athens.

Highly disciplined, down-to-earth and passionate, Akiko graduated with a degree in Anthropology from the University of California-Berkeley, and is taking her masters in business administration at the Ateneo. She is the Secretary General for the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association (PASA), and hosts the weekly television program "Gameplan." Her current passion is getting the youth to join the volunteer pool at the SEA Games, which the country is hosting in late November.

"Hosting the SEA Games in the Philippines is an opportunity for the youth to get involved in sports," says Akiko. "We need volunteers; it's a big part of the success."

Akiko underscores the importance of youth involvement in sports. "Sports prepares a person for life, and it keeps him or her healthy and away from bad influences. It helps in character formation, setting goals, and handling success or defeat."

Swam at the '88 Seoul, '92 Barcelona and '96 Atlanta Games competed in the '87, '89, '91, '93 and '95 South East Asian Games in Jakarta, KL, Manila, Singapore and Chiang Mai, respectively, with a total of 7 gold medals, not sure how many
silvers.