The Year In Sports: Another Olympic Debacle For PH

(Editor’s note: Yahoo! PH Sports looks back at the year that was with a series of blogs recalling the highlights and lowlights of Philippine sports.)

Every leap year, member countries of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) come together to celebrate the spirit of sports in the biggest setting on the globe.

The Olympics has always been the grand stage of sports and the Philippines has been a constant fixture in the games since its first appearance as an independent nation in the 1924 Paris Olympiad with runner David Nepomuceno as its lone entry. In the 1928 Amsterdam edition, Teofilo Yldefonso captured the country’s first Olympic medal by winning the bronze in the 200 Meter Breaststroke final in the swimming competition. Yldefonso along with high-jumper Simeon Toribio and boxer Jose Villanueva snared three more bronze medals for the Philippines in the 1932 Los Angeles games and then hurdlist Miguel White added a fifth bronze medal to the RP trophy case in Berlin in 1936.

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When World War II shelved the Olympiad for two stagings, the 1948 London games were supposed to be the return of the Philippines to winning more medals and maybe upgrading its consistent third place finishes. Well, it didn’t happen. Nearly a full generation later, pugilist Anthony Villanueva did one better than his father’s feat 32 years prior by giving the Philippines its first ever silver medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympiad after losing in the championship bout to the Soviet Union’s Stanislav Stepashkin. Since then, the Philippines would add three more medals all in boxing: 1988—Leopoldo Serrantes (Bronze), 1992—Roel Velasco (Bronze) and then his younger brother Mansueto taking the silver in 1996 in Atlanta.

So there you go: two silvers and seven bronzes in eighty-eight (88) years of joining the Olympics. That’s like almost a medal every ten years. It sucks.

For the record, there were four more medals unaccounted for in “Demonstration Sports”; events that the host countries or National Olympic Committees (NOCs) include to showcase a candidate for a regular sport in future Olympiads: Gymnast turned jin Bea Lucero along with compatriot Stephen Fernandez took home two bronze medals in the 1992 Barcelona games in Taekwondo while Arriane Cerdeña won the gold medal in the women’s singles category in the 1988 Seoul games in bowling and Willy Wang also bested all nations in the taolu competition in the 2008 Beijing Olympiad’s wushu battles. The 2012 London Olympics was the first staging that the IOC prohibited demonstration sports (which is cool because the British were considering the inclusion of cue sports as a demo—which would give us more fake golds through dudes like Efren “Bata” Reyes. Django Bustamante and Dennis Orcullo).

London 2012 was looked upon by experts as a new hope for Philippine Olympics.

It was such an anticipated undertaking to finally give us our first ever gold medal that the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) sent a fighting contingent of ELEVEN (11) COMPETITORS. This is the SMALLEST CONTINGENT since 1932! Yes, 1932; when airplanes were still not the normal mode of travel, when the country was still unsure of the competition, when the Philippines was still a fledgling sports nation.

What the heck is this??

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Is it because the funding under this present administration has been diverted to other “more important” sectors of the nation’s needs? Or is it because mediocrity has now become prevalent in a country proud of many things, but not sports? Whatever the reason, we continue to lay a golden egg.

I, however, still salute the eleven athletes that represented us.

Let’s relive those performances (even if they came up short) to pay homage to their efforts and acknowledge that although these warriors didn’t bring home any medal, we all know that they still did their best to be all they could be amidst the shortages of the so-called “officials” that should have better equipped our contingent with more support.

Mark Javier (Archery): The 32 year old Dumaguete native was the first to see action for the Filipinos when he took part in the Men’s Individual 70 Meter event held on July 27th. He finished 55th out of 64 and failed to advance to the round of 32. Korean Jin Hyek Oh claimed the gold medal.

Rachel Anne Cabral (Archery): A few hours later, in match 3 of the Women’s 70 Meter Individual event, the 27 year old out of Tuguegarao yielded to Inna Stepenova of Russia to crash out at 48th out of 64. The competition was eventually won by yet another Korean in Bo Bae Ki.

Jesse Lacuna (Swimming): Two days later, the Philippines once again saw action in the opening qualifiers of the aquatic competitions with the teenager from Pulilan, Bulacan plunging into the 2nd heat of the Men’s 200 Meter Freestyle event. Lacuna could only muster a 5th place finish in the race and did not qualify for the medal rounds. He eventually ranked 36th overall in the event won by France’s Yannick Agnel.

Paul Brian Rosario (Skeet Shooting): With multi-titled shooting legend Jethro Dionisio at the helm, the 30 year old Manileño joined 35 other aspirants in the Skeet Shooting qualifiers where only six slots for the finals were up for grabs at the Royal Artillery Barracks. Rosario hit 110 of 125 (44 in Day 1, 66 in Day 2) targets to finish in 31st place. Vincent Hancock of the United States defended his title.

Hidilyn Diaz (Weightlifting): That same day (July 30th), the Philippine flag bearer made her way to the ExCel in Newham to show the world she had come to improve on her 11th place finish in Beijing. The pressure was on the 21-year-old from Zamboanga as her 2008 résumé was too good to be overlooked. Well, everything came crashing down—literally—as she failed to make it past 97kg in the Snatch and couldn’t even complete a lift in the Clean and Jerk. An emotional and apologetic Diaz was too distraught to even comment on her woeful performance. But come 2016, the experience she gained from her first two Olympiads will only bring her to greater heights—and weights.

Mark Anthony Barriga (Boxing): On July 31st, the man many considered the most legitimate hope for the Philippines’ gold medal campaign finally saw action when the 19 year old Panabo, Davao Oriental lad clashed with Italy’s Manuel Cappai in the Round of 32. Barriga scored a convincing 17-7 victory to move into the Round of 16. Waiting there was Birzhan Zhakypov of Kazakhstan. In a highly controversial bout which saw the Kazakh continually employing wrestling moves against the Filipino all throughout the duel and Canadian referee Roland Labbe even slapped a one-point deduction against Barriga for allegedly ducking in the third round. Labbe never penalized Khazypov for holding and squeezing the air out of Barriga. The final outcome had Zhakypov winning 17-16. Zou Shiming of China defeated Thailand’s Kaeo Pongprayoon to retain the gold medal he attained in Beijing.

Jasmine Alkhaldi (Swimming): The eyes of the nation then turned to the start of a new month as August 1 saw the Fil-Arabian tanker take on the world in Heat 3 of the Women’s 100 Meter Freestyle qualifiers. Although more of a Butterfly specialist, the 19-year-old stunner from Parañaque City still did her best, but only finished 5th in the race. She placed 34th out of the 50 competitors. Holland’s Ranomi Kromowidjo set a new Olympic record en route to snatching the gold medal. The one positive that emerged from Alkhaldi’s London experience is that she became sort of a heroine in Saudi Arabia as being the first Arabian-born female to participate in a swimming event. She became the talk of the town in Middle-Eastern social media.

Tomohiko Hoshina (Judo): Despite his Japanese roots, the 25-year-old from Malolos, Bulacan still proudly donned the Philippine colors as the judoka competed in the 100+ kg (Heavyweight) category in Men’s Judo. Korean Kim Sung Min—who previously defeated Hoshina in the 2011 World Judo Championships—was his immediate draw. The bout lasted only 1:05 as Kim successfully scored an ippon, abbreviating the match and sending Hoshina home empty-handed. Teddy Riner of France triumphed in the weight class.

Maristella Torres (Athletics): After three days of no participation (and nothing to write home about) for the Philippine contingent, the 31-year-old San Jose, Mindoro lass opened the country’s athletics endeavours in the Women’s Long Jump qualifiers Group A. Needless to say, Torres’ best leap of 6.22 meters was not enough to make the grade as she could only place 11th in her group and 22nd of 32 jumpers. It was her post-event interview that got the sympathy pouring in from the Filipino people as, in between sobs; she whole-heartedly apologized for her failure to bring glory to her country. Now that’s a class act.

Rene Herrera (Athletics): August 8 marked the last day the Philippines could send athletes to the finals. First to compete was the 5,000-meter run representative from Jordan, Guimaras who at the age of 33 was making his first Olympic appearance. Herrera finished last in his heat and failed to advance.

Daniel Caluag (BMX Biking): The Harbor City, California resident then became the country’s final hope for a shot at that elusive gold medal when he participated in the seeding phase of the Men’s BMX event. Caluag raced first and his time 40.900 was momentarily on top of the leaderboard. However, when rider after rider eclipsed his total, it began to look bleak for the 25-year-old. This was confirmed when he placed eighth and last in Heat 3 of the Round of 32 and failed to progress in the competition. Latvian Maris Stombergs took the gold medal.

What will the future hold for the Philippine Olympians in 2016? By that time, the new national administration would have entered its halfway point in its reign. Will that government be more supportive of our athletes? Will there be a reformat in the POC? Will we finally get our first ever gold medal and stop laying eggs?

Rio may still be a long ways ahead, but we can support our international campaigners and prepare them for the clashes in the horizon, then maybe Rio may just be our one moment in time. Many have already forgotten about London. Let’s hope that the lessons from that debacle are always remembered.

Other Yahoo! PH Sports stories:

The Year In Sports: Nonito Donaire Carves A Name For Himself

The Year In Sports: Manny Goes 0-2

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.