Olympics a low priority?

An army of Filipino athletes tried desperately to qualify for the Rio Olympics. In basketball, the SBP spent a fortune to stage the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Manila with the hope of enhancing Gilas’ chances to make it to Rio. It was also a tidy sum that brought Gilas to Greece, Turkey and Italy on a training trip. Let’s not forget what was spent in sending Gilas to Changsha for the FIBA Asia Championships, the first window for Olympic qualification, last year. Despite all the efforts, in the end, Gilas failed to qualify.

In boxing, only two Filipino fighters will be in Rio. The goal was to qualify at least six but flyweight Ian Clark Bautista, bantamweight Mario Fernandez, welterweight Eumir Marcial and women’s flyweight Nesthy Petecio fell short. A big budget also supported the boxers’ bid. The consolation was two made it when only one fought in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2014.

In athletics, long jumper Marestella Torres lost her universality slot when marathoner Mary Joy Tabal qualified on her own. Before Tabal made the grade, the Philippines had qualified only Eric Cray so the female slot was open for a universality accommodation. Stripped of her universality ticket, Torres vowed to do it the hard way. She competed in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, hoping to hit the qualifying standard of 6.7 meters. Torres couldn’t do it in Kyrgyzstan and went to Kazakhstan for one last try. In Kazakhstan, she was down to her last three attempts. Torres was called for a foul twice in a row so only one jump was left. In an incredible leap of faith, she jumped 6.72 for a new Philippine record and qualified for Rio. Torres said making it to Rio was worth the blood, sweat and tears.

The Philippine delegation to Rio is made up of only 12 athletes, one more than the composition in London. They are Cray, Torres and Tabal of athletics, boxers Charly Suarez and Rogen Ladon, swimmers Jasmine Alkhaldi and Jessie Lacuna, table tennis player Ian Lariba, taekwondo jin Kirstie Elaine Alora, golfer Miguel Tabuena and weightlifters Hidilyn Diaz and Nestor Colonia. The cast would’ve been 14 but golfers Angelo Que and Dottie Ardina backed out.

In golf, the IOC restricted the entries to 60 men and 60 women to play a 72-hole individual stroke competition. The world’s top 15 golfers of each gender were automatically qualified with a limit of four to a country. Then, the next highest-ranked players were included from countries not yet represented with a limit of two to a nation. In the Olympic rankings, Tabuena was No. 38 and Que No. 59.

Ardina was not ranked in the top 60 but was listed as a back-up for 27 qualifiers. She was the second replacement for 15 qualifiers, the third for six, the fourth for four and the fifth for two. But even before Ardina was tapped as a replacement, she said she wouldn’t go because of the Zika scare. As it turned out, a spot opened up for Ardina but she opted out.

Que would’ve qualified outright like Tabuena but withdrew, citing the Zika virus. In the men’s division, 23 qualifiers backed out, including the world’s top four, namely, No. 1 Jason Day of Australia, No. 2 Dustin Johnson of the US, No. 3 Jordan Spieth of the US and No. 4 Rory McIlroy of Ireland. Of the top 10, only No. 5 Henrik Stenson of Sweden, No. 6 Bubba Watson of the US, No. 7 Rickie Fowler of the US, No. 9 Danny Willet of Great Britain and No. 10 Sergio Garcia of Spain will be in Rio. Another absentee is No. 8 Adam Scott of Australia.

Of the 60 male competitors in Rio, 16 are from Asia, including two each from South Korea, Thailand, India, Japan, China, Chinese-Taipei and Malaysia. The highest-ranked Asians are An Byeong-hun of South Korea, Thongchai Saidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and Anirban Lahiri of India. The four Asians are in the top 20 of the Olympic rankings. In the women’s division, there are also 16 Asians with four from South Korea and two each from Thailand, China, Japan, Chinese-Taipei and Malaysia and one apiece from Hong Kong and India.

Only six women backed out, namely, Ardina, Lee Anne Rose of South Africa, Cathryn Bristow of New Zealand and Christel Boeljon, Anne van Dam and first replacement Dewi Schreetel of the Netherlands.

Most of the male golfers who withdrew said it was because of the Zika virus. But Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge admitted it was a business decision since he’s struggling to retain his slot in the PGA Tour. Playing in Rio would mean missing out on two of the last three PGA tournaments of the season. PGA Tour officials tried to avoid a conflict with the Olympic schedule and even compressed three major tournaments within a seven-week period but for golfers battling to stay alive in the circuit, they wouldn’t be able to afford two absences.

If Zika was the reason why Que and Ardina decided to ignore the Olympic call, then they were misinformed or ill-advised. There are measures to ensure no exposure to the virus and besides, the time of year in Rio isn’t conducive to Zika. Surely, they could’ve consulted the POC or medical experts before making their decision. Giving up the chance to compete in the Olympics was a price too high to pay for a scare that might be unfounded. The honor of representing one’s country in the world’s greatest sporting event is something that shouldn’t be thrown out the window on a whim. Without hearing from Que or Ardina, let’s hope they had a real basis to justify their decision other than the Zika scare because 12 Filipino athletes couldn’t care less about the virus.