Athletes of the Year

There is something about 100 that awes humanity. In the academe it is the yardstick of perfection the rabidly competitive are obsessed of, like error margin does not exist. It is the distance ran by the fastest human in the century dash. And for centenarians, it is a milestone of longevity that translates to money.

Today I write for the 100th time about sports and more in this column. I dedicate it to the men and women who last year brought honor to the Filipino people at a time of uncertainty. For ending the long wait for the Olympic gold that almost lasted a century, female athlete of the year is Hidilyn Diaz. She lifted the country to its inaugural Olympic gold at Tokyo. The national anthem finally resonated around the world. For once in a long time it felt good to be Filipino.

Yuka Saso captured the US Open title as one of the two youngest in history. She wore Philippine colors, sadly not anymore. She chose the other half of her lineage to be with the most disciplined people on earth. Nesthy Petecio also made history as the first woman to win an Olympic medal for boxing. For three rounds she thrilled us, but she narrowly lost what could have been the second gold. Alex Eala continued to earn points to rank 5 notches away from the world top 500.

Male athlete of the year is flyweight Carlo Paalam who ended Olympic boxing medal drought after he reprised the silver performance of Mansueto Velasco in 1996. While many rued it was robbery in Atlanta, this time the entire country conceded the gold. It was clear Paalam had to say goodbye to his golden dream. But his journey to the final was dreamy. He floored the defending champion from Uzbekistan, so stunned he forgot to shake the hand of Paalam.

Another diminutive Filipino flew high elsewhere. While Carlos Yulo narrowly missed the Olympic bronze in vault, he vaulted back to gold, and added silver in the parallel bars in the worlds. Another historic first for any Filipino, but we would have wanted he did at least one in Tokyo.

The middle-aged comeback kid Nonito Donaire installed himself the oldest bantamweight champion in history and defended his crown against a compatriot before the year ended. Both by a stunning knockout several polls picked him world fighter of the year.

Then there is EJ Obiena, the only Asian qualifier in pole vault at Tokyo. Although he didn’t deliver, he did elsewhere, improved his personal best until he rewrote the Asian record. World Athletics ranked him third best in the world, but he got more attention for financial liquidation he cleared in the bar of public opinion.

The Philippine Olympic delegation is team of the year, for giving us the best ever 1-2-1 gold-silver-bronze medal haul in the quadrennial games, better than our regional neighbors we envied for so long, having won the gold and more way before. Gilas Pilipinas swept the FIBA Asia qualifiers to reassert its long lost continental supremacy, waving at the vulnerable duopoly of powerhouse China and Korea.

All these attest to the Filipino athlete’s fighting spirit. Although last year was unkind, it was when Philippine sports history was rewritten, not by the mighty pen, but by these gallant men and women.