Team Phl seals best Olympic finish ever

The Philippines formally capped its campaign at No. 37 — its best finish ever in its 100 years of participation in the Summer Games.

Powered by gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxers Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas, the Filipinos landed on the top 40 for the first time and emerged as the best-performing Southeast Asian country in the Summer Olympics that formally came to a close on Monday morning (Manila time) at Stade de France.

Yulo asserted his dominance when he ruled the floor exercise and vault apparatus while Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas made it to the semifinals of the women’s 57-kilogram and 50-kilogram events, respectively.

With that, the Filipinos surpassed their finish in the previous Games in Tokyo of 50th place in which weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz notched their first ever gold medal.

The Filipinos’ performance is better than that of its Southeast Asian neighbors like Indonesia and Thailand.

The Indonesians, a nation of 275.5 million, finished at No. 39 with two gold and a bronze medal while the Thais were at No. 44 with one gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

Meanwhile, Malaysia was at No. 80 with two bronze medals and Singapore was at No. 84 with a single bronze.

In Asia, the Philippines also figured prominently as it finished behind China (No. 2), Japan (No. 3), South Korea (No, 8), Uzbekistan (No. 13), Iran (No. 21), Bahrain (No. 33), and Chinese Taipei (No. 35) while Hong Kong is at the same ranking at No. 37.

“We’re the best performer in Southeast Asia and No. 7 in Asia,” Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraha, “Bambol” Tolentino said.

“We wanted more, but with two gold and two bronze medals, should we ask for more from Paris?”