Olympic gold rush

The country’s road to its first Olympic gold medal is littered with tears.

Boxer Mansueto Velasco was robbed of glory following a controversial loss in the men’s light flyweight division finals of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz’s performance in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, meanwhile, wasn’t enough to lift the Olympic dream of this nation.

That’s why it’s not surprising why a lot of sports officials are coming out with their versions on how to corner the elusive Olympic gold medal.

Suddenly, the country’s frustration has turned into an obsession that completely transformed our sportsmen into mad scientists trying to figure out turning peanuts to gasoline.

It got out of hand to the point that an American coach Chris Huffins advised long jump specialist Henry Dagmil to include crocodile meat in his diet during his buildup for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

More than a decade later, the gold chase remains.

This time, it was squash president Robert Bachmann who presented a blueprint on how to clinch it — a long-term plan that entails a lot of sacrifice from all stakeholders, especially the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and various national sports associations.

Bachmann, the outspoken son of an Olympian, said the perfect way to capture the country’s first Olympic gold medal is by reclassifying the members of the POC into three categories: Olympic sports, associate members and sports for all.

He said Olympic sports like athletics, swimming, shooting, boxing, fencing, archery, gymnastics, taekwondo and weightlifting should on the top tier and should be given the lion’s share of government fund.

Their officials should also have a strong voice in the POC general assembly by having them sit in the executive council armed with voting power.

Associate members are National Sports Associations (NSA) which may not be Olympic sports but their respective international federations enjoy recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

They stand to receive funding but have to understand that the government should always prioritize and allocate bulk of its budget to Olympic sports.

Bachmann’s federation falls under this category as well as karate, billiards, soft tennis and chess – NSA whose leaders are reportedly aligned with former POC chief Jose “Peping” Cojuangco.

Finally, in the category of sports for all are NSA whose sports are not being played in the Olympics and whose international federations do not have IOC recognition.

Based on Bachmann’s blueprint, the PSC should just allocate a specific annual budget which these NSA can divide among themselves to run their respective programs.

They will not be given voting powers and the participation of their officials in the POC hierarchy should be limited only to the committee level.

National federations in sepak takraw, pencak silat, arnis, obstacle sports, kickboxing and floorball fall under this category.

Bachmann, also the POC membership committee chairman, will propose these before the POC expanded board, and once the leadership of POC chief Ricky Vargas gives his approval, they will elevate the matter to the general assembly for further discussion and the green light.

He said he knows these proposals will spark outrage among members of the local Olympic council, but this is the only way for them to help the PSC focus resources to those which truly deserve them.

For instance, this year, an Olympic sport like volleyball was given a budget of only P10 million while Bachmann’s squash was allocated P8 million.

Volleyball, a team sports that was played in the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1964, definitely has more expenditures than squash. It has a total of 14 players in the men’s division and 14 players in the women’s division aside from those who will vie in the beach volleyball competition.

Yet, the difference in their budget from a non-Olympic sport like squash is a mere P2 million.

“By re-classifying the membership status of the NSA, we can help the PSC determine which sports deserves the biggest funding. This is a way for us to get a gold medal in the Olympics,” said Bachmann, who has his own share of critics for being a straight shooter.

“Of course, they can’t accuse me of being biased or coming up with a self-serving suggestion since my federation—squash–will also be downgraded from a regular member to just an associate member.”

“And I’m fine with that for as long as bulk of government resources will be given to federations whose athletes would compete in the Olympics next year.”

Over the past couple of years, the POC opened its doors to new federations, including those who have nothing to do with the country’s quest for Olympic gold.

Since these new federations already enjoy POC membership, they are now qualified to receive fund from the PSC as mandated by the Republic Act 6847.

On top of that, they can also request favors from the government such as tax exemption in their travels and importation of sports equipment, something that should be enjoyed by athletes and federations who are in serious pursuit of Olympic glory.

Love him or hate him, but Bachmann’s “unpopular” idea makes a lot of sense.