Fil-American tanker Jarod Hatch would rather focus on the things he can control as he savors his Olympic experience with a festive homecoming in Manila recently.

Hatch said that he is looking on the bright side regardless of a short-lived campaign in the French capital.

“It was great. Once you fall down, it's really discouraging. But being able to get an Olympic bid and represent the Philippines at the Olympic level is all worth it,” said Hatch.

“I'm good. I'm taking it one day at a time, making sure I really enjoy and this a lifelong accomplishment, so try not to look in the future too much and just enjoy what we all accomplished here,” he added.

The 26-year-old tanker remained thankful despite coming short in the men’s 100m butterfly semifinal – where only the Top 16 will proceed – after settling for 36th place in the heats with a time of 54.66 seconds.

“It's really important. It's what I worked for my whole life. It's really easy to get caught up in performance,” he continued. “It wasn't my best season, but I don't want to just get caught up on that and not enjoy what I accomplished, my lifelong dream.”  

But that Olympic performance wouldn’t dampen Hatch’s morale, noting he’s still opening his doors to don the national colors on the international stages including Southeast Asian Games in 2025 and Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

“I'm just taking it one day at a time. Like I said, just enjoying this moment right now. I'm just having a great time with my teammates. We all just got done working so hard and working towards all our dreams,” he continued.