Zero Olympic gold is not more fun

Two silvers. Seven bronzes. Zero gold. Since 1924.

That’s where the Philippines stand in the all-time Olympic Games medal table. The last three seasons have been especially harsh to our Olympic athletes who all went home with no medal from the 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games. And so with this year’s sendoff of the country’s lean delegation to the quadrennial games, it will never be a no sweat fight for our 11-man team.

It will never be a no sweat fight but in a speech read for him by Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, the President expressed his confidence in the Filipino athletes’ ability to shine and surprise the world even in the face of formidable opposition in the world’s biggest sporting extravaganza scheduled from July 27 to August 12.  

At this point, all the President could give are words of encouragement. But in truth, these athletes need more than just a pat on the back; they can’t just solely rest their fates on beautiful sendoff words to bring home any gold. For the best form of encouragement is not even to actually guarantee them of cash rewards after a victorious clash but first of all, to guarantee them of a world-class training even before the clash starts.

No question, ours is a country with a multitude of sport talents waiting to be harnessed. But talent of course without the needed high-class, topnotch equipment, training and centers to complement it is absolutely useless.

Take a look at the Cubans for example. The way they have dominated in amateur boxing lately has been charming. And this charm stems from the fact that Cuba, a small third world country, has been producing more world champions and Olympic gold medalists than any other country in the world including top-seeded United States and Russia.

About 30 years ago since Cuba’s boxers punched their way onto the international arena with their first gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games, they have since captured a total of 27 gold medals at the Olympics and have achieved phenomenal success at the Pan Am Games and Goodwill Games with chilling demonstrations of boxing supremacy.

But just like the Philippines, Cuba is only small country with little money; its world beaters bike, even walk their way to training sessions wearing frayed tracksuits. So what’s the secret to Cuba’s boxing success?

Thanks to Clinton Mollett for his research that said that in grammar schools in Cuba, sports are given high priority and Cuban children are forcibly encouraged to participate in these sports where their potential talent as a baseball player, athlete or boxer is spotted.

From age 12 in Cuba, talented youngsters are sent to special schools where their skills are nurtured and developed. From there, they pass through a very competitive youth scheme and all along the top trainers are keeping an eye on the impending talent, few, if any, slip through the gaps. The ones that graduate get sent to the top school where they are methodically put through carefully thought-out drills, all their training having purpose and being incredibly demanding of the boxer.

In Cuba, the support that the state gives to sports has made these results possible. The boxing success obviously serving a political purpose in that Cuba’s young and healthy sportsmen and women provides an advert on the world stage for its communist system.

As amateurs, Cuban boxers are rewarded with prestige, the opportunity to travel and upon retirement, perhaps a second hand car. After a career of fighting for their country, and not much else, most Cuban boxers stay in the sport either as administrators or trainers and that way, knowledge and experience are handed down to the next generation of sportsmen. That next generation is pummeling away at punch bags in youth gyms all over Cuba.

So it seems that Olympic training is more fun in Cuba than in the Philippines. Here, our athletes during sendoff merely get beautiful words of encouragement that actually mean no more than “Good luck!” Consciously or subconsciously, that explains the zero Olympic gold. Which is, by the way, more disgraceful than fun.