For a young swimmer who loves the atmosphere of a real competition, the Beijing Olympic Games is a dream come true.

Small wonder then that when Joan Christel Simms qualified for the Beijing Olympics in the 100-meter and 50-meter freestyle during the USA Junior National Swimming Championships in Indiana last year, the 17-year-old Hawaii-born Filipino tanker was ecstatic.

“I feel very honored to represent the country, especially the one that represents my family and my culture,” Simms said in an e-mail interview yesterday.

Simms, whose mother, Jocelyn, traces her roots in Cavite, is actually being eyed as a potential replacement to Olympic gold winner Natalie Coughlin for the US swimming team in the 2012 London Olympics.

But the determined swimmer wanted to be sure she would go to Beijing, so she decided to join the RP team instead.

“I just love competing and racing. I always want to be better in swimming and it is my desire to improve my overall performance in training and competition. That motivates me to excel,” said Simms, the lone female swimmer in the RP swim team.

Simms timed 57.17sec in the 100m event and 26.31sec in the 50m, attaining the same Olympic B standard time. It was, however, in the 50m where she bettered the qualifying standard of 26.32.

Though she will go up against Coughlin, Amanda Weir and Dara Torres of Team USA and Lisbeth Lenton of Australia, all world class athletes, Simms is unfazed.

That’s maybe because of her youthful exuberance.

“My goals for the Olympics are to achieve my best times and take advantage of the wonderful opportunity of representing the Philippines with pride. But overall, I just wanted to swim as fast as I can and enjoy the Olympic experience,” Simms, a five-time medalist in the Junior National Swimming Championship in the US, said.

Simms is currently training at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center and Salt Lake Recreational Center Pool under Scott Sherwood.

She will join four other Filipino Olympians — Miguel Molina, Ryan Arabejo, Daniel Coakley and James Walsh — in the team’s training in Los Baños, Laguna starting on July 26.