MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) was bestowed the Breakthrough National Olympic Committee (NOC) Award by the Association of NOC (ANOC) for its breakthrough Tokyo Olympics gold snared by weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz.
“The POC is honored to receive this award from ANOC. It’s been almost a century or after 22 Olympics that we finally won our first Olympic gold medal,” said Tolentino a day after receiving the award online during ceremonies held in Heraklion, Greece Sunday.
The PhilCycling head also heaped praise on Tokyo Games silver medalists Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam and bronze medal winner Eumir Marcial as well as the 15 other Filipino Olympians for their heroism.
“This award is not only for the POC, but for the entire country and the 15 other Filipino athletes who gallantly competed in the Tokyo Olympics,” said Tolentino.
The ANOC Awards, which was created to honor the achievements of the NOCs and their athletes and distinguished members of the Olympic family, were held for the first time in Bangkok in 2014 and have been held every year since then.
Also receiving the award for winning their first Olympic gold medals were Bermuda (women’s triathlon) and Qatar (weightlifting).
Burkina Faso, San Marino and Turkmenistan were also recognized for claiming their first medals in the quadrennial event.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, Greek Culture and Sports Minister Lefteris Avgenakis and representatives from the IOC, NOCs, international federations and other Olympic stakeholders attended the awards.