Olympic roll call

Since the Philippines made its Olympic debut in Paris in 1924, 359 athletes have represented the country in the quadrennial event.

No Filipino has ever won an Olympic gold medal in the 17 editions that the Philippines has sent athletes to the Summer Games. So far, the Philippines has harvested only two silvers and seven bronzes. Boxing accounted for five of the nine medals, including the pair of silvers.

The fighters who bagged silvers were featherweight Anthony Villanueva in 1964 and lightflyweight Mansueto (Onyok) Velasco in 1996. The bronze medallists in boxing were bantamweight Jose Villanueva in 1932, lightflyweight Leopoldo Serrantes in 1988 and lightflyweight Roel Velasco in 1992. The Velascos are brothers while the late Jose was Anthony’s father.

Also pocketing bronze medals were swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso in 1928 and 1932, high jumper Simeon Toribio in 1932 and 400-meter hurdler Miguel White in 1936.

The Philippines sent 20 athletes to the Sydney Olympics four years ago and none came home with a medal. There were four boxers and four taekwondo jins in the delegation.

In Olympic history, the Philippines is tied with Chile in second place behind Mongolia in the dubious category of countries with the most medals won but without a single gold. Mongolia is on top of the ladder with 14 medals. The last Mongolian to capture a medal was judo’s Dorjpalam Narmandakh who claimed a bronze in the 132-pound class in 1996. The last Filipino to bag a medal was Onyok Velasco, also in 1996.

Chile was blanked in 1996 but stormed back to capture the bronze in soccer in Sydney.

In Athens, the Philippines is sending a lean team of 14 athletes, including four boxers and three jins. Swimming (4), archery (1) and athletics (2) are also sending competitors.

Five of the 14 are holdovers from the Sydney Games. Back for another try are fighter Romeo Brin, taekwondo’s Donald Geisler, athletics’Eduardo Buenavista and Lerma Bulauitan and swimmer Miguel Mendoza.

With his participation in Athens, Brin will become the 12th Filipino athlete to compete in three Olympics. In 1996, Brin fought as a lightweight and lost a 24-13 verdict to Julio Gonzalez Valladares of Cuba in his first bout. In 2000, he was also dispatched early, dropping an 8-5 decision to Bulgarian Sergei Bykovski in his initial match.

The three-time Filipino Olympians were Toribio, discus thrower Josephine de la Vina, Ramoncito Campos and Ed Ocampo of basketball, Amman Jalmaani and Akiko Thomson of swimming, Chito Feliciano and Horacio Miranda of shooting, Rodrigo and Salvador del Rosario of weightlifting and Mario Almario of yachting.

The country’s only five-time Olympian was shooter Martin Guison who competed in 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1964. Another shooter Cesar Jayme participated in four Olympics in 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1960.

As of 1992, the world record showed five athletes tied with the most Olympic appearances at eight. Three were yachtsmen and two were equestrians. Gymnast Larisa Latynina of Russia holds the record for most medals at 18 and American trackster Ray Ewry the mark for most gold medals at 10.

Ocampo would’ve been a four-time Olympian if the Philippine basketball team qualified for the 1964 competition in Tokyo. Ocampo, Boy Arazas, Narciso Bernardo, Felix Flores, Manny Jocson, Boy Marquez, Eddie Pacheco, Sonny Reyes, Big Boy Reynoso, Ed Roque, Elias Tolentino and Turo Valenzona played in the 10-team pre-Olympic qualifiers in Yokohoma two weeks before the Tokyo Games started.

The Philippines finished sixth in the qualifying tournament that sent the top four placers–Mexico, Australia, Canada and South Korea–to the Olympics. Aside from the Philippines, the other countries that failed to qualify were Cuba, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia. What killed the Philippines’ chances to advance was a 98-86 upset loss to Indonesia which wound up with only a single win. The Philippines also lost a 90-58 decision to South Korea en route to compiling a 3-6 record.

There were 59 Filipino athletes, including Brin, who’ve participated in up to two Olympics. After Athens, the three-time Olympic roster will welcome Brin and the two-time list will increase to 62.

The Fighting 14 will attempt to end the country’s gold medal drought in Athens.