Akiko Thomson

Gillian Akiko Thomson OLY (born October 8, 1974) is a Filipina television host, journalist and retired swimmer. She is the most accomplished Filipina swimmer in the Southeast Asian Games having won eight gold medals in the biennial multi-sport meet between 1987 and 1993. She is the youngest of three children born to a Japanese mother from Hiroshima, Hiroko Nakamura and American father, James Marsh Thomson. Her older siblings are Julia and Joshua. When she was young, she and her family moved to Manila where her father, who had previous experience with the United States Office of Naval Intelligence, became the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines[1] in the latter years of the Marcos dictatorship.

Akiko Thomson

OLY

Personal information
Birth name	Gillian Akiko Nakamura Thomson
Full name	Gillian Akiko Nakamura Thomson-Guevara
National team	Philippines
Born	(1974-10-08) October 8, 1974 Washington, D.C., United States
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Medal record Southeast Asian Games 1987 Jakarta 100 m backstroke 1987 Jakarta 200 m backstroke 1989 Kuala Lumpur 50 m freestyle 1989 Kuala Lumpur 100 m freestyle 1989 Kuala Lumpur 100 m backstroke 1989 Kuala Lumpur 200 m backstroke 1991 Manila 100 m backstroke 1991 Manila 200 m backstroke 1991 Manila 50 m freestyle 1991 Manila 100 m freestyle 1993 Singapore 100 m backstroke 1993 Singapore 200 m backstroke

Thomson began swimming at the age of six. She started to represent the Philippines in several swimming competitions locally and abroad after becoming a naturalized Filipino citizen through an Act of Congress by the age of 12. Among the tournaments she competed in are the 1987, 1989, 1991 and 1993 South East Asian Games, where she won eight gold medals [2] and also in three editions of the Summer Olympic Games in 1988, 1992 and 1996 .[3]

Thomson graduated with a degree in Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley and then took her master's degree in Business Administration at the Ateneo de Manila University.[4] After her retirement from competitive swimming, she became a television host and journalist with Probe Productions at ABS-CBN. She is married to Chips Guevara and had a baby in 2011.

At present, Thomson is the current president of Philippine Olympians Association, replacing former president Art Macapagal.[5]