Moving on to Paris 2024, the Philippines has one gold, five silver and eight bronze medals sewn to its flag, courtesy of 12 Olympians since 1928, four years shy of its beginnings in the Paris 1924 Games.
Gold Medalist: Hidilyn Diaz, Weightlifting, Women’s 55 Kilogram, Tokyo 2020.
Silver Medalists: Carlo Paalam, Boxing-Men’s Flyweight, Tokyo 2020; Nesthy Petecio, Boxing-Women’s Featherweight, Tokyo 2020; Hidilyn Diaz, Weightlifting, Women’s 53 Kilogram, Rio de Janeiro 2016; Mansueto Velasco, Boxing-Men’s Light Flyweight, Atlanta 1996; and Anthony Villanueva, Boxing-Men’s Featherweight, Tokyo 1964.
Bronze Medalists: Eumir Marcial, Boxing-Men’s Middleweight, Tokyo 2020; Roel Velasco, Boxing-Men’s Light Flyweight, Barcelona 1992; Leopoldo Serrantes, Boxing-Men’s Light Flyweight, Seoul 1988; Miguel White, Athletics-Men’s 400-Metre Hurdles, Berlin 1936; Jose Villanueva, Boxing-Bantamweight, Los Angeles 1932; Teofilo Yldefonso, Swimming-Men’s 200-Metre Breaststroke, Los Angeles 1932; Simeon Toribio, Athletics-Men’s High Jump, Los Angeles 1932; Teofilo Yldefonso, Swimming-Men’s 200-Metre Breaststroke, Amsterdam 1928.
Noteworthy were the back to back medal winning ways of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz in Tokyo 2020 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 and of swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso in Los Angeles 1932 and Amsterdam 1928.
In the next three years, Filipino athletes will see a century of participation in the Olympics, coincidentally in the same city where sprinter David Nepomuceno stood up for the Philippines as its lone athlete.
Filipino athletes have proven that nothing is insurmountable for those who dream big and work hard.
Paris 2024 will be no different.
*****
Tokyo 2020 is over but it left indelible imprints in the hearts and minds of athletes of three nations.
First, they shared the ecstasy and euphoria of biting their first gold medal.
Second, they instilled national pride after triumphantly raising and showing off the first highest Olympic mint their country had ever received.
Third, they inspired national unity when their anthem was played and their colours were hoisted and raised at the highest flagpole.
From the small Caribbean nation of Bermuda, triathlete Flora Duffy put her nation on the top step of the podium for the first time in its Olympic history. Duffy is one of just two athletes competing for Bermuda.
Qatar is better known for its petrol and natural gas, but clinching two gold medals in two days – a first for the country – got the Middle East emirate into the glowing Olympic medal map.
Weightlifter Fares Ibrahim Elbakh won his and his country’s first ever Olympic gold medal. He had clean and jerk lifts of 217 kg (478 lbs) and 225 kg (496 lbs) — the two heaviest lifts of the entire competition, and marking a total score of 402 kg (886 lbs) for an Olympic record.
Bagging Qatar’s second gold medal in Tokyo 2020 was one of the Games’ most unforgettable moments of true sportsmanship and international friendship.
After their runs, Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy were tied for first. Shrugging off a jump-off to break the tie, the two agreed to share the gold medal. All smiles, they hugged and jumped joyfully. Barshim won bronze in the high jump at London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.
Of course, the third country that bagged its first gold medal in Tokyo 2020 is the Philippines, courtesy of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz. She set Olympic records in the clean and jerk and total score in the women’s 55 kg competition. What she did is written in the annals of Olympics and in Philippine sports history. Whatever she decides for Paris 2024 remains to be known. We wish her all the best.
*****
Congratulations too to Tokyo 2020 Filipino Olympians Ernest John Obiena and Kristina Knott in athletics; Carlos Edriel Yulo, artistic gymnastics; Irish Magno, boxing; Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan and Juvic Pagunsan, golf; Kiyome Watanabe, judo; Cris Nievarez, rowing; Jason Valdez, shooting; Margielyn Didal, skateboarding; Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule, swimming; Kurt Barbosa, taekwando; and Elreen Ando, weightlifting.
Here’s hoping that Paris 2024 will see more of the Filipino Davids who have a robust heart, mental resilience and physical strength to subdue Goliaths. After all, Goliath is so big that David’s little dream stone cannot miss.
*****
Don’t panic, Titanic. The Tokyo 2020 sports flow isn’t that over … yet.
Sports aficionados still have to root for and watch everyone’s heroes prove that nothing is impossible.
From August 24 to September 5, let us be awed and be amazed as we tune in and be locked with the Tokyo 2020 16th Summer Paralympics, when 540 events in 22 sports will be played.
Let us root for Team Philippines, represented by wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan and discus thrower Jeanette Aceveda in athletics; Achelle Guion in powerlifting; Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino in swimming; Allain Ganapin in taekwando.
*****
Mixing the Olympics with politics is very disturbing.
From 1956 to 1988 including the boycott of Montreal 1976, six Olympic boycotts were recorded.
Did any of the six bring about positive and productive results for the world?
Only Olympians have the soul of the Games. People and the sports world respect Olympians and winners.
In closing, Tokyo 2020 sent a message: Worlds we share.
*****
Just one more past-bedtime nightcap, please.
I’d like to see how Errol Spence Jr. will fulfill his desire to “retire” Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao.
Spence will defend his unified boxing welterweight belts against Pacquiao at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on August 21.
Undefeated at 31years old, the champion (27-0, 21Kos) likes to be known as the one who ends the legendary 26-year career of the 42-year old Filipino icon (62-7-2, 39 KOs).
Not that I am against Pacman’s “retirement” from boxing, but I still want to witness the speed and the quickness in him. Pacquiao must win.
However, I’d be happy to see Spence put some “retirement” sense in his challenger’s head.
I am not taking any bets, amigos. I am “retired” from mixing sports and politics.
*****
For Pacman, is it boxing or politics, a mix or none of the two?
I wrote a piece on that query in 2011 or ten years ago. Here goes.
UNLESS MANNY PACQUIAO and his handlers step up to the plate of supra-human expectations, the legendary Filipino boxer and neophyte politician may have to come face-to-face with a tasteless recipe for disaster, a loss that can wreck his pro-boxing career and weaken his chances of being a higher-posted public servant.
Manny is known for his craft: Boxing’s first eight-division world champion, having won six titles; the first to win the lineal championship in four weight classes; Fighter of the Decade; Fighter of the Year in 2006, 2008 and 2009; best pound-for-pound boxer; the congressman from Sarangani; Pambansang Kamao (National Fist), etc.,
In the Philippines, Manny is the people’s hero.
Everything comes to an eerie standstill nationwide every time he gets into the rectangular ring and squares it off with a hopeful who wants to knock him out or walk away unscathed, holding a fat check.
Globally, Manny has earned the respect of fans, peers and critics.
His contagious smile and the huge amount of energy, excitement and entertainment he brings with him each time he spars for triumph are captivating enough, if not totally magical, in the eyes of a perplexed world.
In another dimension, people still recall the quite sad story of Filipino boxing icon and Hall of Famer Gabriel ‘Flash’ Elorde, who held, to this time, the longest title reign — seven years — as a junior lightweight.
Elorde, at 33, was advised to hang up his gloves. But he did not, or he could not.
He had to fight a bigger and much superior lightweight Carlos Ortiz, who battered him from round to round in two meetings.
Is Manny beatable? He lost three times, remember?
Junior welterweight champ Amir Khan was honest enough to say that he would advise Manny, a good friend, to consider retirement and “not go on too long.”
“He has some serious thinking to do… The more he fights, the more it might take some of the gloss off his great legacy. He has so much on his plate, between his personal life and political path so as to focus on boxing,” Khan told media.
Many people think like Amir. Thanks God!
Does Manny really need to be very rich and very popular to make the jump from congressman to governor, then senator, then (Whoa!!!) president?
In his innate simplicity, does he really need to be politically big?
It surely must have been pretty disappointing and equally expensive for a world champion and homeland hero to lose in a parochial political tussle. He did, didn’t he?
Manny once said he would not leave the Philippines, unlike cash-fat Filipinos who would jump at the first chance to go work, play, live and be citizens elsewhere.
Good. At least, Manny would have his million-dollar cash, or part of it, nobly boosting the Philippine economy, or giving poor communities a shot at more comfortable lives.
Enough of boxing!
He had given the Filipino people and the boxing world the thrill of their lives, something to talk about for a long, long, long time.
Surely, Manny would no longer want his face scarred or his body resemble a virtual punching bag.
In retirement, he could focus on the investments he and wife Jinkee wisely engaged in, for the children’s future.
Manny, the champ and record holder, could still make big bucks in endorsements; movie and television sitcom appearances; and his boxing training and promotions outfit so he could continue his legacy with younger Filipino boxing hopefuls.
How about some quality family time?
Without boxing and politics, Manny could easily bring Jinkee, the children and Mommy Dionesia to live comfortably and peacefully away from the public eye in one of the country’s vacation islands.
At a moment’s notice, the family could go, without a costly entourage, to any of their properties in the US and who-knows-where.
And Manny would still be the greatest, if not most wise, fighter in his time.
*****
A friend asked me: “Will you vote for Pacquiao if he runs for president?”
My reply: “I will sure do. What’s his riding?” #####