'32 Olympic heroes honored

MANILA, Philippines - It was a splendid year, 1932.

When the modern Olympics ended its 10th edition in Los Angeles the Philippines brought home three bronze medals. It was a modest harvest compared to others’ hauls, but a very tough act to follow for all the succeeding RP delegations.

In 16 of the 17 Olympics (the country did not participate in the US-led boycott of Moscow 1980) since then, the Filipino bets have practically scrambled to bring home a single medal.

It is then only fitting the three Filipino medalists – swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso, track and field athlete Simeon Toribio and bantamweight boxer Jose “Cely” Villanueva – in that most unforgettable of Summer Games be among the first to be inducted into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame.

Also to be honored in glittering rites at the Maynilad Hall of the Manila Hotel are Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, Ceferino Garcia, Francisco “Pancho Villa” Guilledo, Villanueva’s son Anthony, Caloy Loyzaga and the Philippine basketball team that wound up third in the 1954 World Championship in Rio de Janeiro.

Yldefonso stood at the forefront of that 1932 feat. The Piddig, Ilocos Norte native, nicknamed the “Ilocano Shark,” finished third in the 200-meter breaststroke for his second Olympic medal in as many games.

As a 25-year-old, Yldefonso landed the same spot in the podium but through the 400m breaststroke as he bagged the country’s lone medal four years before in Amsterdam.

Those finishes earned for Yldefonso the distinction of being the only two-time Olympic medalist in Philippine history.

Toribio, who narrowly missed the bronze in Amsterdam, could have done Yldefonso better in Los Angeles had he cleared the bar raised at six feet, six inches in the high jump, a height he has cleared before. But, according to author Jorge Afable, the Zamboanga native was “distressed by a call of nature” in the course of the four-hour event.

The man, who in 1930 was awarded the prestigious Helms World Trophy as “Asia’s Greatest Athlete” and later served as congressman from Bohol was as active as Yldefonso as he also participated in a six-hour marathon and again was part of the RP Team in Berlin four years later.

It was also in 1936 that White carved his name into RP sports history by finishing third in the 400m hurdles, behind then world record holder Glenn Hardin of the US and John Loaring of Canada.