Waiting for gold

The Philippines is in the record books as the No. 1 country in the world with the most Olympic medals but no gold, surely a dubious distinction. A consolation is the Philippines isn’t one of the 73 countries among 206 member nations in the IOC never to earn a podium finish. The Philippines has gathered 10 medals so far from 21 Summer and four Winter Olympics involving nearly 500 athletes.

Countries that are still medal-less in the Olympics include Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belize, Turkmenistan and Guinea. Bangladesh is the No. 1 country with the biggest population (161 million) and no Olympic medal since making its Summer Games debut in 1984.

In Olympic history, the US is by far the most productive medal hoarder with over 1,000 golds. Before Rio, the US had garnered 977 gold medals since 1896. So far in Rio, the US has bagged 28 golds. Countries with at least 200 gold medals in their collection are the combined Russia-Soviet Union-Unified Team, Great Britain, France, Italy and China.

Danyel Reiche, associate professor of comparative politics at the American University of Beirut, said wealth and size don’t determine the Olympic success of a country. He cited the poor performance of India despite a population of 1.3 billion and the exceptional performance of Kenya despite a modest economy. In his book “Success and Failure of Countries at the Olympic Games,” Reiche proposed the “WISE” formula to perform at a high level. Reiche said “WISE” stands for promoting Women in sports, Institutionalizing national sports promotion, Specializing in particularly promising sports and Early adoption of sporting trends as newly added disciplines. Lebanon, the country where Reiche is based, is one of the countries with the most Olympic medals but no gold. By the way, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s father Malcolm was the American University of Beirut president when he was assassinated in 1984.

Reiche noted that China traditionally has more female than male Olympians and their medals indicate a balanced ratio. He pointed out that countries like Australia, Norway, South Korea and Great Britain have built a solid infrastructure around institutes that promote sports. Reiche said instead of spending millions for a wide range of sports, countries like Ethiopia and Jamaica focus on their strengths in specialized sports. Before Rio, Ethiopia had compiled 45 Olympic medals, 20 from women, all in running. Of Jamaica’s 68 medals, 65 came from sprinting. Even China has done its homework in concentrating on sports where Chinese athletes could dominate like women’s weightlifting.

“Governments have to make a strategic decision to specialize,” said Reiche. “After a disappointing 1996 Olympics, Britain introduced a policy of concentrating public funding on sports in which it is likely to win medals. Since moving to this approach, Britain jumped from 36th in the medal count in 1996 to the top five at both the 2008 (fourth) and 2012 Summer Olympics (third).

“Even the US has chosen to specialize. Since 2000, when the US Olympic Committee started focusing its investments in sports where Americans are likely to win, the US has increased its lead in the Olympic medal count. Today, USA Swimming receives far more USOC funding than USA Table Tennis – which fields no world-class athletes who would be able to bring home medals. Partly as a result, swimmer Michael Phelps won 28 medals for the US (an Olympic record), with 23 gold in five Olympics.”

In Rio, five countries have made gold breakthroughs. Monica Puig, 22, won Puerto Rico’s first Olympic gold medal with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 win over Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the women’s singles tennis final. Swimmer Joseph Schooling, 21, clocked 50.39 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly final to capture Singapore’s first Olympic gold medal. Army colonel Hoang Xuan Vinh, 41, topped the 10-meter air pistol event to deliver Vietnam’s first Olympic gold medal. Hoang was widely quoted for saying, “I think only try, try, try … on my last shot, I don’t think gold or silver, I think only try.”

Fiji, with a population of 881,000, bagged its first Olympic gold medal in men’s rugby 7s. The sport made its Olympic return after 92 years and Fiji wouldn’t be denied first place as the two-time rugby 7s World Cup champion and reigning World Rugby 7s Series titlist. Fiji crushed Great Britain, 43-7, in the final. Majlinda Kelmendi, 25, carried the Kosovo flag in the Parade of Nations at the Rio opening ceremonies and made her country proud by beating Italy’s Odette Givffrida in the final of the -52 kilogram division of women’s judo. Kelmendi represented Albania in London four years ago then switched to her homeland after Kosovo was recognized as an independent nation by the IOC. She was one of only eight athletes to compete for Kosovo in Rio.

When will the Philippines’ gold breakthrough in the Olympics come?