In the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the 15 Philippine athletes failed to bag a single medal in the 17 events in eight sports wherein they participated. That was a competition in which countries such as Afghanistan, Mauritius and Togo bagged a bronze medal each. After that Philippine debacle, there was a lot of noise from various quarters about preparing early to do better next time.
Four years later, the country has sent its smallest contingent ever to the Olympic Games in London. Of the 11 Philippine athletes, four went to London mainly because every participating country is required to compete in swimming and athletics. The rest won in qualifying matches.
As of yesterday, Jessie Lacuna had failed to make it in the 200-meter freestyle qualifiers. The country is still pinning its hopes on boxer Mark Anthony Barriga and BMX racing’s Daniel Caluag to bring home a medal and end a 12-year drought. At the Summer Games in Beijing, Willy Wang bagged a gold in wushu, but this is classified as a demonstration sport and is excluded from Olympic medal tallies.
The last time the country won any Olympic medal was at the Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996, when boxer Mansueto Velasco won a silver. This time, even sports officials have cautioned the nation not to expect much from the Philippine team, whose members are competing in archery, athletics, boxing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming and weightlifting.
So what happened between Beijing and London? A change of government should not be an excuse for those in charge of sports development. There are about 100 countries that have never won an Olympic gold medal, but the benchmark should be those that have managed to win. Among Southeast Asians, Thai athletes brought home two golds and two bronzes from the Beijing Olympics. Filipinos love sports, and the government should decide if the nation should continue sending token delegations to the Olympics, or start getting serious about winning.