Sports brings the world together

The Paris Olympic Games has not yet ended but it is already the most successful one for the Philippines. Sports is a highly competitive activity and success is measured in the number of victories. I have been watching the Olympic Games despite the time difference between Paris and the Philippines. It is very refreshing to witness how the country has become unified by the medals that have been won and are expected to be won by our athletes.

The man of the hour is, of course, Carlos Yulo, the Filipino gymnast who has won two gold medals, a feat never achieved in Philippines sports history.

Our first Olympic gold medal was won by Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting during the last Olympics in Tokyo. Hidilyn came from a very economically deprived family but was able to lift herself out of the clutches of poverty through hard work and perseverance. She was able to finish her education in the College of Saint Benilde and is now a full-fledged instructor in the same college.

Watching Carlos Yulo win his two gold medals was an experience I am sure I shared with millions of Filipinos. I also felt an emotional high hearing the Philippine National Anthem played two days in a row in the jampacked gymnastics stadium. The sight of the Philippine flag being raised at the same time was worth the waiting.

As an aside, Yulo has become an overnight celebrity in the country. Aside from being celebrated, he has now become the victim of salacious gossip and family fights waged in the public eye. It is unfortunate that this magical moment had to be marred by all these family intrigues. But I guess this is the price of being a celebrity in this country. It happens to people in the entertainment industry, politicians, socialites and now, prominent sports celebrities.

I think, however, we should not let these family issues and gossip lessen the magnificence of Yulo’s achievement even by international standards.

One of the rewards of an athlete’s international victory is that it also brings honor and prestige to the homeland of the sports medal winners. I notice that the Philippines, as of this writing, is the only Southeast Asian country that has won gold medals. Even our neighbors in Asia seem to have shared pride in the victory of Yulo because there were many congratulatory messages coming from the citizens of our neighboring countries.

I have been a sports lover since I was in grade school. I remember playing basketball with classmates in the open court of our school. One feature I have noticed in sports competitions is the tribalism it engenders. So, for example, athletic victories won by schools are felt by the entire community. In the Philippine sports community, school rivalries have always engendered passion to the extent that violence among the fans sometimes results.

Rivalries in the UAAP have attracted bigger audiences than even the professional leagues. The Ateneo-La Salle rivalry has a history going back several decades. It is notable that for a school’s spirit to thrive, it must also be accompanied by victories. For example, the University of the Philippines was never known to be interested in the UAAP games. There was a time when its students liked to say that their school was not interested in sports, but in academic activities and political activism.

Then a few years ago, a few UP alumni started supporting its basketball team until it was able to win a championship. Today, UP students have become one of most vociferous audiences in UAAP games.

The intense competition in sports can be traced to its origin. The beginning of sports was related to military training. In the ancient world, as far back as 7000 BC, the physical activities that developed into sports were linked to warfare and entertainment. There are cave paintings found in the Lascaux Caves in France that appear to depict sprinting and wrestling around 15,300 years ago.

Monuments to the Pharoahs in Ancient Egypt dating to around 2000 BCE appear to show that a number of sports were well developed and regulated in ancient Egypt. These included wrestling, weight lifting, long jump, swimming, rowing, archery, fishing and athletics.

The Iliad and the Odyssey include descriptions of people engaging in sports. It was in ancient Greece where sports was instituted formally, with the first Olympic Games recorded in 776 BCE in Olympia, where they were celebrated until 393 BCE. These games took place every four years. The Games started with a single sprinting event which eventually included other athletic activities. During the celebration of the Games, an Olympic truce was always declared to allow athletes to travel from their home cities to the games in safety.

Some games included musical, reading and other non-athletic contests in addition to the regular athletic events. In the 6th century BC, the Heraean Games were held in Olympia as the first recorded sporting event for women.

I find it almost miraculous that in spite of wars, terrorism, pandemics, droughts, famine, so many countries in the world can voluntarily come together every four years and continue to stage an Olympic Games and continue a tradition began in 1896. This is the evidence of the power of sports – to bring people together.

Hopefully, aside from sports, the world can also come together in other aspects of our lives.