Swimming for Ecuador : Trio Using Dual Citizenship as a Steppingstone to the Olympics

There are many roads to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta this summer.

Three local swimmers have taken the long way to pursue their dreams.

Cito Vasconcellos, and brothers Felipe and Roberto Delgado, have grown up in Southern California and swam in county schools and clubs--Vasconcellos at El Modena, and the Delgados in Mission Viejo.

But when the opening ceremonies take place July 20, they will march into the Olympic Stadium under the flag of Ecuador.

All three have dual citizenship. And all three performed well in the South American championships in March to earn the right to swim for Ecuador.

Vasconcellos, 22, a student and swimmer at USC, will compete in the 200-meter butterfly, the 400 freestyle relay and the 800 freestyle relay. He also is being considered for the 100 butterfly.

Felipe, 22, earned his spot by tying Ecuador’s national record in the 50 freestyle (23.22) and placing second in the 100 (51.16).

Roberto, 21, qualified in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.99, one-tenth of a second off the Ecuador national record.

The Delgados swim for Arizona State.

Even if they had competed for and won spots on the U.S. team, the Delgados and Vasconcellos said they wanted to represent Ecuador, which has never won an Olympic swimming medal.

“I still feel the United States is my country, but my heart is with Ecuador,” Roberto said. “We were brought up with Ecuadorean traditions; we were raised as Ecuadoreans. When we go in the stadium, we want to represent that country and our family.”

Vasconcellos said: “I’m pretty much a U.S. kid. Ecuador is a small country. The conditions there are not the best. But I still feel it’s my country.”

Not only are Vasconcellos and the Delgados--who competed against each other in high school--intertwined by their Olympic paths, they also are linked by their family histories.

The Delgados’ older brothers David and Eddie swam for Mission Viejo High. And their cousin Jorge Delgado Panchama swam the 200 butterfly at the 1972 Olympics. His 2:04.60 clocking was good for fourth, behind Americans Mark Spitz, Garry Hall and Robin Backhaus.

Panchama has come the closest of any Ecuadorean swimmer to winning a medal.

“That was the last year countries were able to send three swimmers per event,” Felipe said. “If they had sent just two, like now, he would have gotten the bronze medal.”

Vasconcellos’ father, Andres, who swam in Ecuador, was a South American 200 backstroke champion in the 1960s. His younger sister Christina, who swam for the Irvine Novaquatics (where Amanda Beard trains), hopes to play water polo for El Modena High.

In addition, each athlete had to overcome obstacles in his sport.

Vasconcellos started swimming in the 10th grade because his friends were on the team. “At first I only did the butterfly; I could not do freestyle, the backstroke or the breaststroke as fast,” he said.

By the end of his sophomore season at El Modena, Vasconcellos was third-best in the Century League. As a junior and senior, he won league titles in the 100-yard butterfly.

Vasconcellos began his Division I college career at California, but was cut from the team.

“They had a bunch of butterfly specialists,” Vasconcellos said. “I was bummed out, but I heard Coach Don Wagner [now at Texas A&M;], who I knew at Fullerton Aquatics, got an assistant job at USC, and he helped me get there.”

It gave Vasconcellos great pleasure, he said, to be on USC teams that have beaten California in Pac-10 competition the past two years, and finish higher than the Golden Bears at this year’s NCAA championships.

USC Coach Mark Schubert, who is also an assistant with the U.S. team, said no other freestyle swimmer in his program has made more progress the past three years.

“Working with him has been truly satisfying,” Schubert said. “Wagner said he’d work hard, be good and make a contribution to our program. But never in my wildest dreams did I think he’d be as good as he’s become. And for him to be an Olympian is fabulous.”

Felipe Delgado was primarily a water polo player in high school and was recruited by California and Pacific. But he wanted to swim, and in 1992 received a partial scholarship to Arizona State.

“It was like a 27% scholarship,” Delgado said. “I didn’t know any better at the time.”

He redshirted his first year to try to improve his butterfly and freestyle times. (His scholarship rose to 62%.) In his first season, Delgado qualified for the NCAA meet on the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams.

He started to blossom last year, reaching the NCAA consolation finals in the 50 freestyle, and his team was seventh in the 400 freestyle relay. “That’s when I started to think about the Olympics,” he said.

Like his brother, Roberto swam for the Mission Viejo Nadadores. He came to the sport late. “I preferred water polo,” he said. “I didn’t get serious about swimming until I was a junior in high school.”

This will not be the first time the Delgados and Vasconcellos have represented Ecuador.

Last year, Vasconcellos swam the 200 butterfly for Ecuador at the Pan-Pacific games in Atlanta. “It was a good steppingstone to the Olympics,” he said. “I got to see the pool, get familiar with it. I got to see what some of the competition would be like. And I could show the Ecuadorean Olympic committee what I could do.”

Felipe joined the Ecuador national team in 1992, and swam in the South American championships in 1992, 1994 and in March. Roberto also competed in the South American championships this season.

While none will be medal favorites, neither Vasconcellos nor the Delgados are going to Atlanta just to soak up the atmosphere.

“Some people think just going to the Olympics is enough,” Felipe said. “But if I only get in the consolation round I’ll be disappointed. My first goal is to be in the top eight. And if I can get into finals, my goal is to win a medal.”

Roberto’s goals are more modest. He would like to be the first Ecuadorean to swim the 100 butterfly in less than 55 seconds, which would set a national record. “After that I want to try and make the top 16,” he said.

Vasconcellos also will seek a medal.

“I think about it and remind myself stranger things have happened,” he said. “I’m gonna go for it. I’ve got nothing to lose.”