PH’s Rio campaign shows there’s more work ahead

And so the Philippine campaign in the Rio Olympics has come to a close. The score is one silver medalist and 12 frustrated athletes.

Add Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) officials who heaved sighs of relief. They avoided total humiliation, after all.

The silver medal won by Hidilyn Diaz in the Rio Olympics is big reason for a national celebration. The charmer from Zamboanga City broke a barrier by becoming the first female to win an Olympic medal for the country in nearly a century. She is to be honored.

Hidilyn’s feat and medal, however, should not be seen as a symbol of the success of Philippine sports, but rather a clear sign of how much work still needs to get done.

It is the country’s first medal in 20 years and only the 10th since the country sent a one-man delegation to Paris for the 1924 Olympics.

In the post-war era, spanning nearly 70 years and 20 Olympiads, the country won just six medals, three of them silvers. And before Hidilyn, the last to win a medal was boxer Onyok Velasco who got a silver in the 1996 Atlanta Games.

A gold medal had yet to be won by the Philippines since it started competing in 1924.

Since 1990, the year the Philippine Sports Commission was constituted and tax money was poured into sports, the country has won three medals in all, two in boxing.

But if you study the results of the Philippine contingent in Rio, except for this breakthrough in weightlifting by Hidlyn, nothing significant has happened since the PSC was created.

Except for Diaz, not one of the 12 other athletes were in any serious medal contention. In many ways, Rio was a tryout for these athletes, too. A good performance would have earned them total and unlimited support for future campaigns.

As it is, only one athlete advanced to the next round of his/her event. Fil-Am runner Eric Cray made the semis and then finished 17th among 24 semifinalists in the 400m hurdles.

Other than that small feat, Filipino athletes were completely outclassed.

Ian Lariba, in women’s table tennis, was out in the first round without winning a game; boxers Charly Suarez and Rogen Ladon were eliminated in their first bouts; swimmers Jessie Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi failed to advance past the first heat; weightlifter Nestor Colonia was unable to post a score in his division; judo’s Kodo Nakano was beaten in 79 seconds; golfer Miguel Tabuena finished 53rd out of 60 players; marathoner Mary Joy Tabal was 124th among 133 finishers; Marestella TorresSunang was 28th among 38 entries in the women’s long jump; and Kirstie Alora was beaten in her first match, 4-1, in women’s taekwondo. In contrast, two of the country’s neighbors in Southeast Asia have beaten the Philippines to the draw in winning its first Olympic gold medals.

Singapore, with a population of barely six million, won its first gold medal behind Joseph Schooling, who beat swimming’s all-time great Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly.

Vietnam also beat the country to the draw in capturing an Olympic gold medal by winning one in shooting.

Both nations’ feats should make the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission review their program.

Compared to the five nations in Southeast Asia against which the country measures itself, the Philippines is sixth in Rio Olympics achievement.

Ahead in the SEA race is Thailand with six medals (2 golds, 2, silvers, 2 bronzes), Indonesia three medals (1 gold, 2 silvers), Vietnam two medals (1 gold, 1 silver), Singapore one medal (1 gold), and Malaysia, five medals (4 silvers, 1 bronze).

Note, too, that four of the five countries won a gold medal in Rio.

While winning a silver is a good omen, we know Filipino athletes are capable of performing much better, if given enough support, encouragement, and challenge by the very officials now basking in the glory of that silver piece.