100 Years of cheers - Filipino athletes mark centennial year of Olympic action

It took the Philippines almost 100 years or a century after its first appearance in the Olympic Games to win its first gold medal.

Though it almost took forever for the country to realize its dream, it was well worth it.

Weightlifting, not track and field nor swimming, and not even boxing, got the job done.

Thanks to the mighty arms of Hidilyn Diaz, the Philippines finally broke the jinx when she electrified the crowd during the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.

By doing so, the Philippines finally scored a breakthrough, ending decades of pain and agony and frustration when its biggest and brightest gold bets fell by the wayside.

Making its Olympic debut in 1924 in Paris, only one athlete was sent there to compete: trackster David Nepomuceno.

He could not podium there but it marked the beginning of a long and arduous journey for the Filipinos in the Summer Games as they struggled to fight for validation.

Four years later, the Philippines’ first Olympic medal — a bronze — was brought home by swimmer and lawyer on war casualty Teofilo Yldefonso from the Amsterdam Olympics.

There would be a few more medals along the way, but the first silver was bagged by boxer Anthony Villanueva during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

When the Games was hosted by Los Angeles, eight athletes were sent to compete and three medals were won.

Yldefonso struck again with a bronze while track and field’s Simeon Toribio also won the same color and boxer Jose Villanueva added another.

When it was Berlin’s turn to host, 31 athletes competed but just one bronze was won and it was Miguel White in track and field.

Then came a long drought that spanned the Second World War.

In Tokyo in 1964, ringsiders believe Villanueva’s silver should have been a gold as he bowed to Russian Stanislav Stepashkin in the featherweight final in a controversial decision.

The final score was so atrocious that jaded followers of the fight game raised a howl over the disputable decision.

It would take 32 years before another silver came along when another fighter — light-flyweight Onyok Velasco —placed second to Daniel Petrov Bujilov in Atlanta.

When he returned home, Velasco, who comes from a family of accomplished punchers from Bago City in Negros Occidental, was given a motorcade and treated like royalty.

Private corporations showered him with gifts and cash rewards and even then-President Fidel Ramos welcomed him at Malacañang as the country exploded in jubilation over the pint-sized boxer’s solid showing versus the tall, crafty and rangy Eastern European.

Heading into the Paris Olympics, the Philippines has logged a total gold-silver-bronze collection of 1-5-8.

Of the 14, eight were delivered by boxing, which is at the forefront once again of the Philippines’ campaign during the 26 July to 11 August quadrennial sports spectacle, hauling four silvers and four bronzes.

The other two silvers came from the Tokyo Games with Carlo Paalam and Netshy Petecio finishing second and Eumir Marcial coming up with a bronze to go with the same type snatched by Leopoldo Serantes in Seoul (1988) and Roel Velasco in Barcelona (1992).

Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio finishing second and Eumir Marcial coming up with a bronze to go with the same type snatched by Leopoldo Serantes in Seoul (1988) and Roel Velasco in Barcelona (1992).

Two each were provided by weightlifting (courtesy of Diaz’s silver from Rio 2016), athletics and swimming.

Parisian campaign

Coming off an eye-popping performance in Tokyo, much is expected from the 22-man delegation to the French capital.

Minus Diaz, who has decided to retire, the Tokyo medalists are back in full force.

Paalam and Petecio are still around while Marcial is also making a bid together with world No. 2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena and two-time world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo.

There could also be surprises in weightlifting and even in golf as the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) leadership anticipates a medal rush given the training the delegation has undergone.

In fact, a month before the opening, the POC brought the Paris-bound athletes to a training facility in Metz, France, not only to get used to the local conditions but train in a world-class setting.

It is the belief of the POC that the Tokyo production will either be matched or even surpassed since all the athletes are in terrific condition, physically and mentally.

Marquee names

They didn’t bring home medals but there were several outstanding Filipino athletes who tried their luck in the Olympics.

Carlos Loyzaga, acknowledged as the Filipino greatest basketball player of all time, saw action in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki and in 1956 in Melbourne.

In between, Loyzaga powered the Philippines to a third-place finish in the 1954 world championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil apart from winning the Asian games crown in 1951, 1964, 1958 and 1962.

In Helsinki, Loyzaga and company wound up ninth and then seventh in Australia.

Another immense name to play in the Olympics was Robert Jaworksi, who was a part of the team that competed in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

In the field of athletics, who could forget Lydia de Vega, once Asia’s fastest woman, who participated in the 1984 (Los Angeles) and 1988 (Seoul) Olympics?

And there was Eric Buhain, who represented the Philippines in 1988 and in 1992.

Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, too, participated in the Olympic Games not as a competitor but as a member of the delegation.

Pacquiao carried the Philippine flag during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Positive outlook

Bannered by the three heroes of Tokyo, the Philippines appears poised to match or even go beyond the 1-2-1 tally in Japan.

Marcial is seeded seventh in the light-heavyweight category while Paalam and Petecio, though not seeded, remain strong contenders in their respective divisions given their track record.

On the way to the Olympics, placed second in the Asian games in Hangzhou while Petecio and Paalam made waves in the Olympic qualifiers.

Obiena has Swedish Armand Duplantis as the main threat but he has proven one time that he can be better than him.

Yulo is likewise a title contender.

The POC is not acting like crazy in its bold prediction.

Just look at the Philippine lineup and it is easy to understand why it can get the job done.