Is there hope for Philippine sports?

Former Gintong Alay head Michael Keon is now 61. With his experience as a competitive athlete and the Philippine Olympic Committee president from 1981 to 1984, Keon has a lot to say about Philippine sports and how it should be directed to bring honor to the country.

While a student at UP majoring in English literature with a minor in political science, Keon became the UAAP 5,000-meter champion and record holder. As a boy, Keon was exposed to a wide variety of sports. He played Little League and Pony League baseball and was team captain of the soccer team at the International Catholic School in Bangkok and ran track at St. Patrick’s College in Australia under coach Tony Benson. When Keon headed Gintong Alay, he brought Benson to Manila to coach the national track squad.

Keon left UP before his senior year to establish Gintong Alay, an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. An only child born to an Australian journalist Michael, Sr. and Filipina mother Elizabeth Marcos, he conceived of Gintong Alay as a vehicle to develop elite athletes who could compete with the best in the world. Keon submitted his proposal to President Ferdinand Marcos and convinced his uncle to take him seriously.

“One of the major elements in the success of Gintong Alay was the leadership of President Marcos,” said Keon. “Regardless of whether one is either pro or anti-Marcos, the fact of the matter is he not only was an athlete himself (the best golfing President in the world at the time with a handicap three, an accomplished marksman, water skier and a boxer while in college) but a man who understood the mechanics and language of sport. Despite the fact that I was his nephew, he did not automatically approve my requests. I had to explain my requests and convince him of the veracity and need of my requests.

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“Our relationship was purely professional, based on sport and the need to ensure a successful national sports program. When I delivered the goods, he supported me. When I didn’t, he questioned me. I hope and pray that whoever is elected President of our beloved republic in the coming election understands the importance of sport in nation-building and will move to halt the downward spiral of Philippine sport and work to rejuvenate our national sports program.”

Keon said even as the country has still to capture the elusive gold medal since the Philippines made its Olympic debut in 1924, he has not lost faith in the Filipino athlete. “It’s just a question of time,” he said. “If Thailand can win Olympic gold, why not the Philippines? Thailand won gold medals in taekwondo and boxing. Why not the Philippines? Are we genetically inferior to the Thais? No, we are not. But our sports system is inferior.”

Keon said he has repeatedly declared that the Philippines is teeming with sports talent. “In both my previous roles as director of Gintong Alay and sports consultant for the province of Ilocos Norte, I have been overwhelmed by the sheer talent of the Filipino athlete,” he said. “While in Ilocos Norte, I would attend grassroots competitions under the DepEd, small town meets, zonal competitions and others. I would be surprised at how much raw talent there was. When you attend the Palarong Pambansa, there you see the cream of grassroots talent on display. There is so much talent and yet most, in fact, virtually all of that talent falls by the wayside, falling through the yawning cracks of Philippine sport because of a lack of a comprehensive grassroots identification and development program.

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“I have spent a good deal of time working with the Filipino athlete both as an administrator and coach. I have eaten with athletes, listened to their problems and when younger, trained with them. I have watched and observed the Filipino athlete more than most people. I know the capability of the Filipino athlete. I know the worth of the Filipino athlete and I know the present system is not worth the Filipino athlete. And despite being perennially let down by the system, the Filipino athlete still manages to shine through.

“Look at our history. From the early Olympic medalists – Teofilo Yldefonso, Simon Toribio and Miguel White – to the more recent medalists Leopoldo Serrantes and Onyok Velasco to all the athletes I became acquainted with during Gintong Alay like Lydia de Vega and Isidro del Prado in track and field, Paeng Nepomuceno and Bong Coo in bowling, Jairula Jaitula and Akiko Thomson in swimming, Pia Tamayo and Dyan Castillejo in tennis, Eugene Torre in chess, Leopoldo Cantancio in boxing, Efren (Bata) Reyes in billiards, the list goes on. Look at our modern-day heroes Nonito Donaire and of course, the greatest of all Manny Pacquiao. There are great Filipino athletes from all walks of life and there will be more great athletes to come. We just have to work out our formula. We either create a real genuine national sports program for identifying and training our athletes long-term or we continue searching the world for Fil-Ams, Fil-Aussies, Fil-Brits, Fil-this and Fil-that, hoping that one day, we will hit the jackpot like the gambler looking for the best bet hoping to strike it rich and win gold.

“If we continue with this golden analogy, we have great veins of gold just waiting to be exploited right here in our own backyard. I have seen real talent in remote rural barangays. What about this talent, the talent from areas that we would describe as marginalized and economically depressed? Doesn’t that talent have the prerogative to be discovered and to be given the chance to utilize their God-given athletic potential and in so doing, allow our kababayan the chance to bring honor and glory to our nation while being given the opportunity to rise up out of poverty in a dignified manner? So despite everything, I still continue to believe in the Filipino athlete.”

In future columns, Keon will explain the elements that made Gintong Alay successful, reveal a major anomaly at the recent Milo Marathon and disclose the tragedy that befell Lydia de Vega and Isidro del Prado.