The Philippines has had high hopes of winning at least a medal when it joined its first Olympics — the 1924 Winter Games in Paris.
Since then, the quest for the Olympic medal propeled hundreds, if not thousands of athletes and hopefuls to try their luck and improve their craft so that one day, they too, can be a part of the Philippine delegation to the Games and at the very least, etch their name in history, much like swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso, the first Filipino to win a bronze medal for the country during the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.
Yldefonso duplicated his feat at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles.
Simon Toribio, a high jumper and Yldefonso’s co-delegate, also brought home a bronze during the Los Angeles Olympics. Same with Jose Villanueva, a bantamweight boxer, whose son, Anthony, became a featherweight and marched on as a 19-year-old who snatched the Philippines’ first silver medal during the 1964 Tokyo Games.
In athletics, Miguel White likewise brought honor to the country by conquering a bronze medal in the hurdles during the Olympics in Berlin, circa 1936.
Post-martial law era, the legacy of Villanueva’s 1964 silver lived on as light flyweight Mansueto Velasco snapped a 32-year drought to bag another silver for the country during the Atlanta Olympics.
Leopoldo Serrantes (1988 Seoul) and Roel Velasco (1992 Barcelona) also made the country and their fellow Filipinos proud by bringing home bronzes in the world’s largest gathering of sports events.
Knocking on destiny’s door
Fast-forward to August 8, 2008, the date set for what is now touted as the “most expensive” Olympics so far — the Beijing Games — the Philippines and its 15 Olympians are once again knocking on the doors of destiny for the chance to claim the most sought-after award in the quadrennial gathering of the greatest athletes on earth.
No less than Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao was personally chosen by President Arroyo to carry the country’s flag during the Games’ opening rites.
A minor controversy ensued regarding Pacquiao’s appointment. It, however, was quelled as soon as it began.
And Pacquiao, for his part, said he is very much willing to be the flag-bearer so that he can inspire and rally the Philippine delegates in their quest for the 84-year gold drought.
“Sa tingin ko, kaya ng mga Pinoy ‘yan,” said Pacquiao shortly after arriving Wednesday, August 6, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 from a trip to the United States.
“Good luck sa kanilang lahat. ‘Wag nilang kalimutang magdasal, mag-ensayo sila,” said the Filipino boxing superstar.
Pacquiao assured the public that he will give his full support to Filipino athletes in their quest to win the country’s first Olympic gold medal.
“Nandito lang kami sa likod n’yo, nakasuporta at nagdarasal para sa karangalan ng ating bansa,” he said.
Rewards plus
The President, meanwhile, only had best wishes for the athletes as she gathered them for a pep talk at the presidential palace in Manila on August 1, exactly a week before the Games commence.
“Congratulations and good luck,” the President said, as she shook hands with the athletes while encouraging them to bring home the Olympic gold that has eluded the Philippines.
Apart from the praises, Mrs. Arroyo promised P4.5 million in addition to the P10.5 million earlier promised by private benefactors to the athlete who will win the first gold for the country.
But promises of monetary rewards and cars to be given to those who will bring home a gold or at least a silver did not escape criticisms.
Sports analysts said that first and foremost, the government, through its sports bodies, should implement honest-to-goodness programs that can produce medal hopefuls in the Games to come.
Monetary rewards should not come as a knee-jerk reaction and be the end-all and be-all of athletes’ lives.
More than just the gold
Regardless of these issues, history, indeed beckons for the 15 Olympic delegates to the Beijing Games who will compete in eight sports disciplines: boxing, taekwondo, shooting, archery, diving, swimming, athletics and weightlifting.
“The main incentive is the athletes’ determination and desire to be successful for themselves and for the country. That is the most important incentive,” Mrs. Arroyo told a group of Manila-based Chinese media.
”No amount of incentive could substitute the pride the gold-winning athlete would get for himself or herself and for the Filipino people,” she added.
The current crop of Olympians has been dubbed lean and mean. Lean and mean as they are, the country only has high hopes for them to bring home a medal of “any color” said chief of mission Monico Puentevella in a previous interview.
The Philippines has yet to win a single Olympic medal as it crossed into the new millennium. The last was Velasco’s silver in Atlanta.
And so from August 8 to 24, Mark Javier (archery); Henry Dagmil and Marestella Torres (long jump); Henry Tañamor (boxing); Miguel Molina, James Walsh, Ryan Arabejo, Daniel Coakley and Christel Simms (swimming); Rexel Ryan Fabriga and Sheila Mae Perez (diving); Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette Rivero (taekwondo); Eric Ang (trap shooting); and Hidilyn Diaz (weightlifting) will battle peers in quest of personal glory and honor for their country and definitely, the gold that has eluded the Philippines since 1924.
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