Too late for London?

Here we go again.

Every time we royally screw up in the Olympics, our top officials once again issue a clarion call for review and revamp of sports that let us down. It’s all getting a trifle tiring.

Now, our top sports officials have agreed on calling for another sports summit on Sept. 4 to map out yet another master plan for Philippine sports. The Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee have been prompted to move by the embarrassing failures of our athletes in Beijing, particularly the abrupt elimination of light flyweight Harry Tañamor from the boxing competition. Obviously, on the biggest stage in the world, not even making it past the first round of any competition after bringing in a lean delegation costing over $1 million is downright humiliating.

The pointed question really is how the national sports associations (NSAs) can defend the indefensible positions of having defective swimsuits, lack of preparation, and general making of excuses for failure. No amount of bluster and bravado can cover up the fact that – to put it in colloquial terms – we sucked. No number of excuses will erase the bottom line: we lost, and badly.

This writer was head of delegation for the NCR in the first Sports Summit, where about 800 representatives from every sport and sporting association spent four sleepless nights in Teacher’s Camp in Baguio City crafting a Covenant for Philippine Sports. President Fidel Ramos even checked on the progress of the summit, twice. Unfortunately, the following year, another summit was called, and many of the delegates from the original gathering were conveniently left out. As of today, the Covenant and its provision have largely gathered dust, and the results are, obviously, still the same.

But seriously, save for the youngsters we sent to China, it’s already a bit too late for London. When you look at the development programs of other countries, we’re looking at a six-to-eight-year timetable to develop our young athletes. Let’s look beyond 2012.

So what are we talking about in the new summit? First of all, the PSC has to clamp down on erring national sports associations. If they don’t liquidate, they don’t get their funding. That has been one policy that PSC chair Butch Ramirez has put his foot down on. But more than that, the PSC really has to deepen its involvement in NSA output, without necessarily interfering internally.

All Olympic and world records are public knowledge. And the physical characteristics of Olympic and world champions are observable, measurable and replicable. If for example, a swimmer’s parents are of average Filipino height (about 5-8 for men and 5-2 for women), then should we even consider the child for the national team? The world’s best swimmers all hover around six feet tall. All the numbers are out there, and there are ways to project an athlete’s eventual potential.

China does it all the time. So let’s not keep deploying athletes and spending people’s money just to massage some NSA leader’s ego.

On another matter, the national government must further backstop the PSC’s efforts. It is public knowledge that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation has not been obeying the Executive Order creating the National Sports Development Fund, short-changing the PSC by about P1.5 billion, or roughly P40 to P50 million a month for at least three years. Even the Senate inquiry on the matter has suddenly fallen silent. So the failure of our athletes in Beijing has another dimension to it. If we had the resources then we could send more athletes to more competitions to qualify for more slots in the Olympic Games.

The problem is not the lack of clear policy; it is the lack of firm implementation. The tragedy of boxing has been clearly documented here in The STAR. We had the opportunities and the funding. We had the personal support of our sports minister, the PSC chairman. And we took it lightly.

So the summit has to set checkpoints and milestones for our sports programs. Within the next two years, our athletes have to start contending at the Asian level. By 2011, we should be swamping the SEA Games and medalling at Asian-level competitions. By 2012, we should be sending our athletes to London predominantly for experience, except for sports like taekwondo and perhaps boxing. Every step of the way, government should be monitoring progress, and pull the plug whenever they veer off track.

The reason we are confident Tshomlee Go and Toni Rivero will medal and probably win golds is because we have seen them compete against their Olympic rivals. We have seen them train beyond what is needed. They refused to go to Beijing early to focus on their training and forego any distractions. They are doing what it takes. And they will have no Chinese opponents.

Which other sports can say that?