A few games of the 2012 London Olympics already started ahead of the official opening ceremonies set later Friday (around 4 a.m. early today, Phl time). Two Filipino archers were among those expected to see preliminary action in ranking and seeding matches.
But if it is any indication of the national mood toward our chances in these Olympics, almost no newspaper ran advancers regarding the Philippine participation in the games. Not to blow our own horn, but only The Freeman carried any Philippine story, the one about our archers.
Normally, there would have been advance stories regarding Philippine participation in the Olympics, and even in similar competitions. And when it comes to a Manny Pacquiao fight in the professional arena, the stories before and after would almost literally flow out of our ears.
Yet a check with major national and local newspapers yesterday showed only advancers about the games in general but nothing about the Philippine participation. To repeat, only The Freeman carried anything in that regard, the story about our two archers seeking action.
Clearly the nation is not upbeat about Philippine chances in these games. Maybe it has something to do with the leanness of our delegation — just 11 athletes, with only one boxer to represent us in our flagship event.
The leanness of our delegation has elicited snide remarks about officials outnumbering the athletes. This is a misinformed and unfair comment as officials usually outnumber athletes in that we are required to provide officials to assist even in games we are not entered in.
That aside, the palpable silence speaks volumes about the degree of our enthusiasm. But this should not be. If we believe we have far less chances now than before, maybe this is in fact the time that we rise as a nation to give our athletes the morale booster they sorely lack.
We are already being bullied in the South China Sea, let us not be bullied as well in the London Games. If we think we are not as high as we should be, then that places us in a position where we have nothing to lose, and no other way to go but up.
So let us cheer like the Devil for our athletes. Who knows, but not expecting to win, we just might. Come to think of it, this is a whole lot better than expecting to win and then coming home empty-handed. Go Philippines.