Olympic hero dies poor, forgotten

MANILA, Philippines - He was robbed of victory in the Olympics and later robbed of the best in life.

Anthony Villanueva, the first Filipino silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964, died in his sleep in his rented apartment in Cabuyao, Laguna after battling a slew of ailments the past years.

He had kidney malfunction, his limbs athropied in a body which had withered away after suffering strokes and heart problems and finally yielding with no food intake the past six days. He was 69.

Villanueva was not even a shell of the 19-year old baby-faced slugger who had brought pride and joy for a fortnight in wintry Tokyo in October in 1964 when he gallantly chased the nation’s golden dream in the Games.

He came within three rounds of cornering that dream but lost to a Russian in the finals in a decision that was severely criticized, prompting one veteran sports journalist to call it “one of the worst in the Olympics.”

“I’ve seen highway robbery better, never anything as bared-faced as this,” said a disgusted Nate Fleischer, editor of the Ring Magazine.

Still, the Filipinos celebrated the courageous stand put up by the young Villanueva and hailed him as a newly minted Olympic hero.

He was the toast of the nation, given a ticker tape parade and honored with awards and tributes all around. His brave pursuit for the gold virtually became an eye-opener for the less fortunate Filipino youths to find a way to better life through boxing. Long before Flash Elorde and Manny Pacquiao, there was Anthony Villanueva.

But while he had his finest moments on the ring, Villanueva seemed to waver on the bigger, more demanding tests off it. He tried his luck in pro boxing, the movies and sought his fortune in the United States only to come home unfulfilled in midlife.

There were times he had tried to sell his Olympic medal to make both ends meet and to cope with the cost of medicine as his health deteriorated.

Yesterday, he succumbed, alone in his corner at the final bell.