NOT ONE , BUT TWO GOLDS IN TOKYO?
TOkyo—philippines, hold your breath—the country’s gold medal drought in the Olympics could finally end at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad that start on Friday amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
And the 19 Filipinos who qualified for these Olympics being held under a difficult situation are said to be good for, yes, not one, but two gold medals.
A popular website, https:// olympicmedalspredictions.com, predicted that the Philippines stands to win two gold medals, one silver and one bronze in the Tokyo Olympics that were moved one year because of the global pandemic.
Gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxer Nesthy Petecio are projected to win the gold medals, with boxer Eumir Felix Marcial settling for a silver medal and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz clinching a bronze.
The website’s forecasts are similar with what Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez foresee from this batch of Filipino Olympians.
“That prediction could be correct, but it can be two silver and two bronze medals, too,” said Tolentino, who is arriving on the eve of the opening ceremony scheduled at the National Stadium on Friday.
“I’ve said this long before that we will get a minimum of one gold,” Tolentino said. “if we get more, that’s already a bonus.”
Ramirez, on the other hand, has always believed that this batch is “probably the strongest, most prepared Philippine delegation ever.”
“I believe that we’ll win a medal in Tokyo and I’m pretty confident of a gold, silver and a bronze,” Ramirez said.
The projected 2-1-1 gold-silverbronze finish will be the best ever finish by the Philippines, which has been participating in the Olympics in 1924.
Such finish will also catapult the Philippines as the most successful Southeast Asian nation in the Olympics, beating rivals Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Thailand, a sports power in the region, is expected to win only one gold from taekwondo jin Panipak Wongpattanakit and silver from its mixed team in badminton.
Indonesia, on the other hand, is favored in badminton’s doubles with a silver in weightlifting from Eko Yuli Irawan and a broze in mixed badminton. Malaysia isn’t expected to win gold, but will corner silver medals from archer Khairul Anuar Mohamad and from one of its divers.
Singapore and Vietnam would go medal-less, the prediction said. Brunei, Laos, Cambodia and Timorleste were not on the list.
The same website predicted the United States to win the overall title with 50 golds, 29 silvers and 29 bronze medals, followed by China (42-33-17), Russia (27-25-18), Great Britain (21-13-21) and host Japan (16-21-15-52).
Completing the top 10 are Australia (15-16-14), Germany (153-22), Netherlands (10-14-7), France (10-6-18) and Hungary (8-5-3).