A Quick Look at Team Philippines’ Best-Ever Olympic Campaign

The Philippines achieved what will go down in history as its best performance ever in the Olympics, winning two golds and two bronzes, to best the country’s Tokyo Olympics harvest of 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals.

In 2021, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz finally broke the almost-a-century-old curse that had the Philippines never gaining that elusive gold medal. With the proverbial monkey off our backs, the country sent its biggest Olympic delegation ever in over three decades to Paris. And not to be denied, the Philippines’ medal harvest made us the highest-ranked Southeast Asian country, finishing at 37th place, its best performance since 1964. 

Here’s how our athletes fared:

Our celebrated gymnast, Carlos Yulo, won golds in the men’s floor exercise and the men’s vault. He became the country’s first Olympic double gold medalist, and became the first Filipino to win multiple medals in a single Olympics. His double gold has become the new standard, bumping off Hidilyn’s 1 gold, 1 silver effort in the past. In doing so, he has also disloged Hidilyn as the country’s Olympic GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). 

Boxer Nesty Petecio won a bronze in the women’s 57kg division, joining Caloy, Hidilyn and long-time swimmer Teofilo Ildefonso as the rare breed of Pinoys to win multiple Olympic medals. Nesty had previously won a silver in the Tokyo Olympics, but failed to advance to the finals this time with a loss to Polish boxer, Julia Szeremata. The Polish boxer would eventually settle for the silver medal. With 2 medals under her belt, Nesty’s Olympic dream continues. 

Aira Villegas, a young promising stylish boxer, won the other bronze medal in the women’s 50-kg division. Her campaign was impressive, but she finally took the measure of a veteran Turkish fighter in the semis, relegating Aira to a bronze. Her future is bright, considering she is very young and new in the game.

EJ Obiena almost made it to the podium with a 4th place finish in the men’s pole vault. He fell short of the bronze via countback, although he did improve on his 11th place finish in Tokyo. 

Bianca Pagdanganan finished a jojnt 4th in women’s golf, just 1 stroke short of a bronze. Still, this was a big leap from the 43rd place finish she had in Tokyo. 

Boxer Carlo Paalam, a silver medalist in Tokyo, almost reached the podium once again in this edition of the Olympics, but fell short in the quarterfinals. A win would have carried an automatic bronze medal as well. 

Elreen Ando finished 6th in the women’s 59kg weightlifting division, resetting her own national records in the clean, jerk and total lift. This is an improvement from her 7th place finish in the previous Olympics in Tokyo. 

Other athletes who tested their mettle in the Paris Olympics include Kayla Sanchez (swimming, women’s 100m freestyle); Joannie Delgaco (rowing, women’s single sculls); Eumir Marcial and Hergie Bacyadan (boxing); Samantha Catantan (women’s fencing, foil); Kiyomi Watanabe ( women’s judo 63 kg division); Levi Ruivivar, Elma Malabuyo and Aleah Finnegan (artistic gymnastics); Jarod Hatch (swimming); John Tolentino and Lauren Hoffman (track) and Vanessa Sarno and John Ceniza (weightlifting). 

Overall, this has been the country’s most successful campaign in the Olympics ever, and it also surpassed the results of all other SouthEast Asian nations competing.

What did this Olympics teach us?

My main takeaway in this episode of the Olympics is that our people are best suited for – and should therefore concentrate on – bantam sports that will fit our physique. Let’s stop dreaming of making it big in basketball. We can never match up against the behemoths of other countries. Instead, let’s focus on sports such as gymnastics, boxing, weightlifting, table tennis, badminton, etc. These are the sports that we can truly make a name for ourselves. 

Another takeaway is that foreign training and experience are important to develop our own native talents. Caloy’s multi-year training stint in Japan was the big difference that propelled him into becoming a champion. This will entail some financial support, as verbalized before by the likes of EJ Obiena and Hidilyn Diaz. But in order to be competitive with the bets from other countries, we need to learn new techniques, and most importantly, imbibe the discipline and the mental toughness needed to win. To compete at the highest level, we must go for more foreign exposure.

Finally, to our athletes who represented our country with pride in the biggest sporting event in the world, we thank you for the wonderful memories, the lessons learned – in sports and in life’s mightier struggles – and most of all, we thank you for the great inspiration you have gifted our people. The poignant memories of your battles in the different sporting arenas, whether in glorious victory or in heroic loss, have certainly left a positive imprint on the generations of Filipinos to come. Once again, our heartfelt gratitude! 

Cover photo courtesy of Khaleej Times. Other pics courtesy of the Manila Times, The Star, Daily Tribune, ABS-CBN News, One Sports, Rappler, Republic Asia, International Boxing Association, Philstar, Inquirer.net, GMA Network, and Tiebreaker Times. For a closer look, just click on the pics.