RP’s future norm: Asiad gold

BUSAN, South Korea — A consensus to raise the standard of excellence of Filipino athletes to Asian Games gold medal level and start a massive buildup for two big international events was made by RP officials Tuesday a day after curtains were lowered on the 14th Asian Games in Busan.

The last of the Philippine contingent, led by final day heroine Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski of equestrian, will leave via Philippine Airlines PR 407 at 7:55 p.m. today after two weeks of competition against Asia’s best in this coastal city.

Cojuangco-Jaworski, 28, stunned a highly competitive field spiked by a number of world-class riders, when she won the individual showjumping gold on board Rustic Rouge in a jumpoff with Korean Jin Kyung Lee.

Her feat gave the Philippines its third gold medal to drastically change the overall performance of the Filipinos barely two hours before the closing ceremonies at the Busan Main Stadium.

And as she rode waving a huge Philippine flag in a victory ride around the course, the sight was like balm that eased the pain of the basketball fiasco.

Pleased and satisfied with the results put in by the Filipinos, President Arroyo, through Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, is expected to meet the medalists in a Palace call possibly next week. Romulo relayed the message to PSC chair Eric Buhain in an overseas call Monday.

Mikee rode flawlessly in two rounds of the individual showjumping, the centerpiece event of the two-day equestrian action, and drew only a two-point time penalty that set that jumpoff with Lee.

"I prayed and prayed hard all the time, did my best, and let the whole thing unravel. Dinaan ko ang lahat sa dasal, kung ano ang ipagkakaloob, yun ang makukuha," said Cojuangco-Jaworski, a mother of two and a bemedalled rider in past Asian and regional meets.

With her victory, the only individual gold gained by the RP contingent, she easily emerged as a frontrunner for the Athlete of the Year award.

Although the Philippines finished 18th in the 43-nation Asiad and sixth among leading Southeast Asian Games, the three golds, seven silvers and 16 bronzes gave RP its best finish in 16 years since the 1986 Seoul Asiad.

Its total medal count of 26 ranked 11th overall here and better than the 18-medal output of four-gold, five-silver and nine-bronze of the Seoul delegation.

In fact, it was the best for Team Philippines in 36 years, on medal count, next only to the 42 (two golds, 15 silvers and 25 bronzes) made in 1966 Bangkok Asiad.

Thailand as expected was the best among the SEAG nations with 14 golds, 19 silvers and 10 bronzes to rank sixth overall behind China (150-83-74), Korea (94-80-84) and Japan (44-72-71).

Malaysia came in 12th (6-8-16), followed by Singapore (5-2-10), Indonesia (4-7-12) and Vietnam at 15th (4-7-7). And so it’s onwards to another battle – the SEA Games next year in Vietnam and the global war two years hence in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

But the Asian Games just concluded also served as an eye-opener for the Philippines if it were to figure prominently again on the regional front.

"We must raise our standard to Asian Games gold medal level if we hope to be dominant again in the Southeast Asia. The momentum we gained here should give us an opportunity to experiment, do research and development for those with potentials," said Buhain.

Noting that most of those who won medals in the traditional events and even in taekwondo and wushu have the height and heft, Buhain said that the government sports agency, with the help of the local government, will undertake a massive talent search for athletes with these qualities.

"Height is still might. Matataas sila," he said.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso Dayrit said the nation must now buckle down to work for a massive start in the preparation and buildup for next year’s SEAG and the one the Philippines will stage in 2005.

"We need the help of everybody, the government, the NSAs and the private sector," he said.

Chief of mission Tom Carrasco, also head of the Asiad Task Force, had done an excellent job in monitoring the performances of the athletes and looking after their welfare, particularly on the days prior to the Asiad opener when there was an acute shortage of transportation and food for athletes tapering off in training.

"We thank God everything went smoothly afterwards. Wala naman masyadong nagkasakit. It’s a great Games for us, we didn’t meet our minimum five-gold forecast but we managed to pull off our best performance in years," he said.