Another below par performance

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr. 

THE 2012 London Olympic Games ended last week and like in the past three Olympics, our tiny national contingent came home without any medal. It’s another below par and disappointing finish by our nationals.  Below par because (except for boxer Mark Anthony Barriga who passed the first round) ten of our eleven nationals – swimmers Jessie Khing Lacuna, Jasmine Alkhaldi, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, skeet shooter Brian Rosario, archers Rachelle Anne Cabral and Mark Javier, judoka Tomohiko Hoshina, tracksters Maristella Torres and Rene Herrera and BMX cyclist Daniel Caluag – could not even eclipse their personal best and all failed to advance in the second round. What a shame.

And because of this new setback I’m expecting some alibis and finger-pointing from our national sports leaders, coaches and the athletes on who’s to blame for this humiliation. It’s a humiliation because a country like the Philippines with 98 million people can only select 11 that passed the Olympic criteria. Worse, we were beaten by small countries like the Bahamas with only 360,000 inhabitants and Grenada with 1.2 million people that snatched a gold medal each, something that our country had never-ever done since the time we entered the quadrennial meet in 1928. City-states like Singapore and Hong Kong, which are similar in size to the city of Manila in terms of population also defeated us, at least bagging some bronze medals. Our southeast Asian neighbors like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, whom we used to pummel during the 1990s SEA Games, also brought home some silvers. And little-known or struggling nations like Gabon, Botswana, Guatemala and Uganda were better than us, taking up silvers and gold, respectively.

Like what I said before and I will say it again, there’s something wrong, really BIG, in our sports development program. Our national sports leaders should find that out and if they can’t find it they must hire experts from other countries to look for the best solution. PNoy’s government should also list sports as one of the priorities of his administration or at least create a sports academy in the whole country like what other countries, especially China, are doing which is bearing fruits. And all those incompetent sports officials who are so many in the National Sports Associations (NSA) should resign. They should have the delicadeza to give up their slots to those who are willing to serve, sacrifice and are capable to do the job and not beholden to political pressure. We should remove those politicians who joined the NSAs as one of their vehicles for their political careers.

Olympic is the ‘mother of all world games’ and each country sends its best athletes to win at least a medal, even just a bronze. To win the bronze is already a big honor for the country because it means you’re the third best in the world in your field. But the 11 Pinoys did not win a single medal, like what happened in 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games. Yes, the 11 that went to London fought their battles well, but they were not armed well enough to conquer their counterparts.

“Better luck next time”, as the saying goes. But I’m tired of hearing this maxim every time our contingent suffers a debacle. The ancient Olympic adage also says “It’s not only the triumph but the try”. This is also very apt yet for us, it’s been always the “try” since 1928. Our flag has since never been raised in the highest (gold) of three flagpoles in the awarding ceremony and our national anthem had never-ever been played in recent quadrennial meet. Don’t tell me na ganito na lang ba tayo hanggang sa kahuhuliang Olympic Games na try nang try na lang? It doesn’t make sense that we’re almost 100 million in population but still can’t find the right fellow to win the elusive gold. Something is wrong and our sports leaders should ask (and be asked) WHY or else we’ll be trashed again four years from now at the Rio de Janeiro Games in Brazil. Many countries are improving, but not us. Amen.

Yes, we Filipinos lost, but my fellow Filipino-Americans also lost but also won. Won because the U. S. regained the overall medal standing with 46 gold, 29 silver and 29 bronze medals, dislodging defending champion China with 38-27-23, gold, silver and bronze medals respectively, to land second.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 TIMOTHY 4:7

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