What Filipino athletes need

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By Juliet SimbreWed, 25 May 2016

Truly, the Filipino athletes are our national treasures.

In their quest to give the country sporting glory, they spend blood, sweat and tears during training.
Because of the sacrifices they make, they put the country in the sporting map.

And now that the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games is barely two months and a half away, it’s just natural
that we treat them with high regard.

If the Philippines really intends to turn into reality its dream of ending the country’s agonizing and long-
running search for its first-ever Olympic gold, it is high time they receive all the help they can get,
particularly from the government.
The bitter reality is that, up to these days, the dreams for an Olympic glory remain to be just that,
dreams.
Since first competing in the prestigious Olympic Games in 1924, the Philippines has not won a gold
medal.

For the record, its highest treasure are two silver medals from boxing, courtesy of Anthony Villanueva
in the 1960 Tokyo Olympics and Mansueto Velasco in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Based on solid empirical data, the country has so far claimed nine medals in the Olympics, five of
them are from boxing.

Jose Villanueva won bronze in the1932 Los Angeles Games, Anthony Villanueva won silver in 1964
in Tokyo, Leopoldo Serrantes won bronze in 1988 in Seoul, Roel Velasco won bronze in 1992 in
Barcelona and Mansueto Velasco won silver in 1996 in Atlanta.

Obviously, our boxers are so close to achieving the ultimate goal of ending the country’s search for
that elusive gold medal.

Unfortunately, after Velasco’s silver medal-finish, it was all downhill. Filipino boxers have failed to
make a podium finish and have gone home with fat eggs from the quadrennial Games.

In fact, in the last London edition, and for the fourth Olympics in a row, Filipino athletes were unable
to take home a medal of any color for the country.

Most feel the government is partly to blame for the country’s chronic failures to end its gold medal
drought in the Olympics. It’s a given, budgetary constraints, in particular the lack of government
support, remain the main problem in the development of sports in this country.
In fact, poor showings by Filipino athletes in major competitions were a result of lack of foreign
exposures and inadequate training because of insufficient budget compounded by the long-time
bickering of sports officials.

The thing is, it would take a solid and well-funded sports development program by the government,
through the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) — the country’s sports-funding agency — to realize
a dream of ranking the Philippines among the world’s best in the field of sports.

Of course, funding support from private sectors is also important. It would encourage athletes to give
their best in winning medals, most particularly in the Olympics. However, it would need more than just
money to fulfill a long-term goal towards uplifting Philippine sports and achieving excellence in the
future.

Filipino athletes are not short on passion and dedication, and neither do they lack talent. They only
have to be provided with the necessary tools and skills when they compete abroad, and surely they
will bring home the bacon.

With proper training, right attitude, proper nutrition and up-to-date techniques through proper exposure
abroad, our athletes can finally break the country’s gold medal jinx in Rio.

Likewise, it can open the gateway for the rest of Philippine sports to perform much better than ever in
their quest for the country’s pride and honor, and its first Olympic gold medal.