What ails Philippine sports?

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the Philippines was represented by 20 athletes. In Athens four years later, the cast dwindled to 16. In 2008, the list dropped to 15 in Beijing and at the London Olympics four years ago, it was down to 11.

At the moment, there are 7 Filipino athletes assured of competing in Rio this August – boxers Rogen Ladon and Charly Suarez, long jumper Marestella Torres (by universality), 400-meter hurdler Eric Cray, table tennis qualifier Ian Lariba, taekwondo jin Kirstie Alora and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz (confirmation a formality).  Swimming will add at least two more to the roster, likely to be repeat Olympians Jessie Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi. Athletics might still qualify pole vaulter E. J. Obiena and sprinter Kayla Richardson.

Boxing hopes to enlist Nesthy Petecio, Mario Fernandez, Eumir Marcial, Ian Clark Bautista or Roldan Boncales and if he decides to go for it, Manny Pacquiao. Golf could bring in Miguel Tabuena (now ranked No. 37) and Angelo Que (now ranked No. 49) since the world’s top 60 will get tickets. Danny Caluag might return to the Olympics in BMX cycling with Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales close to making it in tennis doubles. The icing on the cake would be Gilas qualifying to end a 44-year absence from basketball in the Olympics. Gilas will go to Rio only if it tops the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament here in July.

Will the Philippines snap the downtrend in sending less and less athletes to the Olympics from 16 years back? Or will the lineup go down to less than 11? The probability is the cast will increase to more than the 11 who competed in London but less than the 20 who battled in Sydney. A lot will depend on how the boxers perform at the AIBA World Women’s Championships now in progress in Astana, Kazakhstan, and the AIBA World Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 7-19. Pacquiao has been offered a wildcard ticket to compete in Rio without going through the qualifying system. It’s his call whether to accept or not.

For the record, the Philippines has bagged only nine Olympic medals since 1924 – two silvers and seven bronzes with the last four medals coming from boxing over the last 52 years. In contrast, Southeast Asian neighbor Indonesia has collected 27 Olympic medals, including eight from weightlifting (three silvers and five bronzes). Four of the weightlifting medals were from women. Six gold medals were from badminton where Indonesia has developed a niche as a world-class competitor.

Another Southeast Asian neighbor Thailand has gathered 24 Olympic medals, seven from weightlifting – all in the women’s division – including three golds. Boxing has contributed four golds. In 2005, the Philippines took the overall championship at the Southeast Asian Games with 113 gold medals as Thailand finished second with 87 and Indonesia fifth with 49. Surely, the Philippines has the material, talent and resources to outshine Thailand and Indonesia and it showed at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games. But why has the Philippines fallen behind Thailand and Indonesia in the race for Olympic medals?

The Philippines has yet to capture an Olympic gold medal and it’s a drought that is making Pacquiao consider fighting in Rio. So far, Thailand has gained seven gold medals, four in boxing and three in weightlifting while Indonesia has six, all from badminton.

At the Southeast Asian Games, the Philippines has gone from first place in 2005 to sixth in 2007, fifth in 2009, sixth in 2011, seventh in 2013 (behind Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar) and sixth in 2015. At the Asian Games, the Philippines brought home four golds (two in boxing, one in wushu and one in billiards) in 2006, three golds (one in boxing, one in billiards and one in bowling) in 2010 and only one gold (in BMX cycling) in 2014. The tailspin in the Asian Games performance isn’t just saddening, it’s also quite alarming. Even the inconsistent showing at the Southeast Asian Games is disheartening especially since the Philippines displayed the ability to dominate in 2005.

So what’s wrong with Philippine sports? There are five basic reasons which will be taken up in Tuesday’s column.