Kuya Bong pushes more athletes’ support

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go recently announced that he is eyeing to conduct a comprehensive post-evaluation for the efforts exerted by the government and various stakeholders in preparing and supporting the 2024 Paris Olympics delegation.

Go — who also chairs the Senate Committee on Sports — said that while the country celebrates its historic two gold medals and two bronze medals so far, there have also been some evident areas for improvement in terms of support to Filipino Olympians such as the case of the country’s golf team lacking official uniforms.

“If necessary, we will review this in committee after the Paris Olympics and we will conduct a post-evaluation on how to avoid this shortage and how to further improve the support for our athletes,” said the lawmaker.

However, Go clarified that this initiative aims to further improve preparations and enhance support for Philippine athletes competing not only in the Olympics but also in other future international competitions.

He also stressed that there must be a concerted effort to learn from past experiences, fill in gaps in current sports programs, and find more opportunities for various stakeholders to come together to help boost Philippine sports.

“We don’t want to regret. All we want is to give enough support to our brave athletes who carry the honor of our country. These opportunities to participate in the Olympics or other international competitions are only once in a lifetime. Let’s give the full support it deserves,” Go said.

The lawmaker’s statements come after the criticisms over a viral video posted by the mother of golfer Dottie Ardina. The video showcased Filipino athletes, including Ardina and Bianca Pagdanganan, trying to stick the Philippine flag on their generic golf outfits using double sided tape due to the lack of proper uniforms being provided to them.