The 'Father of Modern Breaststroke' is a story of strength, courage, and heroism.

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Here is something important never taught in our schools. Learned about this just now. The 'Father of Modern Breaststroke' is a Filipino by the name of Teofilo Yldefonso. He was proclaimed a Hall of Famer by the International Swimming Federation in 2009 because of his unorthodox style in swimming which would be later known as the "Yldefonso Stroke." Yldefonso was a self-taught swimmer. He swam the Guisit River in Ilocos to help women crossing the river with their wares. An orphan, he enlisted in the Philippine Scouts where he got engaged into competitive swimming. He garnered a two-feat medal streak in the 1928 Amsterdam and 1932 Los Angeles Olympiad. By a twist of fate, he was one of the Filipino and American soldiers who walked the infamous 'Death March.' He survived it but later expired in the concentration camp in Capas, Tarlac, in the arms of his brother, a member of the medical corps. Sad story has it his friend and fellow competitor in the games, Yoshi Tsuruta of Japan, heard of his incarceration and, being a lieutenant in the Japanese Imperial Army, ordered his release immediately. But Yldefonso, himself a lieutenant, refused to abandon his men. Teofilo Yldefonso, yours is a story I would gladly tell the Filipino youth from now on.