The PH Olympic experiment

The country will be sending a small delegation to the 2016 Olympics which opens on August 5.  A few days ago, a 16-man group left for a 25-hour flight to Rio de Janiero, Brazil composed of six athletes and ten officials.  The group was led by delegation head Jose Romasanta and Philippine Olympic Committee 2nd Vice President Jeff Tamayo.

The athletes on this batch are weightlifters Hidilyn Diaz and Nestor Colonia, swimmer Jessie Lacuna, long jumper Maristella Torres, taekwondo jin Kirstie Alora and Ian Lariba of table tennis.  Lariba will carry the country’s colors in the parade of nations but she will pass on the flag to Alora after passing the VIP box.

Joining their teammates in a few days will be marathoner Mary Joy Tabal, hurdler Eric Cray, golfer Miguel Tabuena, swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi and boxers Charly Suarez and Rogen Ladon.  These athletes failed to join the delegation as they were training abroad.  Tabal will fly in from Japan, Tabuena from Thailand, Alkhaldi from Hawaii, Suarez, Ladon and Cray from the US.

Lariba is the first ever table tennis player from the Philippines to participate in the Olympics.  No matter the outcome at the games, she already made history.  Lariba booked one of the six remaining Olympic spots for women’s singles during the Asian Qualifiers held at Hong Kong.

The last time taekwondo was included in the Olympic discipline was during the 2008 Beijing Games.  It makes a comeback in Rio and we are sending Alora as our lone entry.  During the Asian Qualifiers held in Manila last April where the top two finishers from each weight division gets an Olympic spot, heavyweight Alora assured herself a Rio trip by finishing second behind a Cambodian.

Fil-Am Cray, finished third in the 60-meter run with a time of 6.7 seconds during the 2016 Asian Indoor Championships held at Doha, Qatar which qualified him for Rio.  I’m not so sure if this was the same athlete who had a wardrobe fail when he had the Phl flag displayed on his track suit red side up.  The 35-year-old Torres is on her third straight Olympics.  At the Kazakhstan Open, the veteran Olympian qualified by setting a new Phl  long jump record of 6.7 meters.

By hitting the Olympic Qualifying Standard time of 2:43, Tabal is flying to her first Olympiad.  Her participation was tainted with politics within the sporting agency concerned, thankfully, things were settled.  With other elite Olympic long distance runners submitting times of 2:25 and lower, Tabal’s chances for a medal finish are slim.

I say Olympic experiment because there is very little chance for our athletes to have a podium finish.  It’s not that they’re not worthy to be there but the support and training given to them pales in comparison to athletes of other Asian countries.  We have athletes who are talented and dedicated but the agencies concerned are peopled by ego-trippers and power grabbers.  Just what exactly can talent and dedication do when the ones who call the shots are misfiring.

President Rodrigo Duterte raised allowances for our Olympic delegation.  Athletes now receive $3,000 from a previous $1,000.  Likewise, coaches and officials get $5,000 from a previous $3,000.  It should be the other way around.  The athletes are doing the dirty work.  The last time we had a podium finish was at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 courtesy of the silver medal by boxer Onyok Velasco.  Maybe these coaches and officials can bring us one of those precious metals since they have more allowances than the athletes. 

The POC is headed by somebody who had been there, to borrow President Digong’s words, “panahon pa ni Jesu Cristo.” There is a need for that someone to step down and give way to the younger generation.  It’s time to make a revamp and let the fresh ideas of the pediatric prevail over the minds of the geriatric.  Increasing allowances and incentives are not enough.  Training, facilities and equipment, international exposures, sports nutrition and medicine should be given importance.  Personally, there’s little need to hire imported coaches and athletes.  We are a nation of 100 million people, there must be several out there just waiting to be discovered and developed.

We have focused and spent so much on a sport not suited for our heights and to the point of hiring mercenary players, making them citizens of the republic who only makes landfall during tournaments.  Let’s have a more realistic sporting goal, something that we can really make a splash in the international level.  The country is not wanting in talent, it’s the system that is unwanted.

There’s always the luck of the draw.  Despite the odds, at the back of my mind, I also dream of our athletes bringing home Olympic medals.  I’m looking forward to a good showing from boxing, taekwondo, golf and table tennis.  And to Mary Joy Tabal and Hidilyn Diaz, the best of luck.