It's about time

LONDON – There are 40 countries that have bagged Olympic medals without a single gold and the Philippines is No. 1 in the list with the most medals in the most Olympic appearances without ever striking paydirt.

Vicky Manalo Draves could’ve become the first and only Olympic gold medalist from the Philippines but she opted to compete for the US at the 1948 London Games where the diver won two gold medals in the three-meter springboard and the 10-meter platform events. Her father Theodore was a musician from Orani, Bataan, while mother Gertrude Taylor was English.

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Arianne Cerdeña captured the gold medal in women’s bowling but alas, it wasn’t recognized in the record books as she participated in an exhibition event. Cerdena wasn’t the favorite among 12 competitors including top picks Carl Gianotti of Australia and Edda Piccini of Mexico. As an exhibition sport, bowling was not included in the medal standings. Newsweek Magazine commented that “the bowlers…suspect that they have been set up, as it were, just to be knocked down,” reporting on the grim outlook of the sport as a future fixture in the Olympic calendar.

In Beijing four years ago, another Filipino athlete got gold but suffered the same fate as Cerdena because Willy Wang’s sport was in the demonstration category. Wang took the gold in the men’s nanquan and nangun combined event of wushu.

So with Draves winning for the US and the feats of Cerdena and Wang ignored, the Philippines remains without a gold medal in 19 Olympics before this year’s London Games. So far, the medal haul lists two silvers and seven bronzes. The silvers came from Anthony Villanueva in 1964 and Onyok Velasco in 1996, both in boxing. The bronzes were delivered by swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso in 1928 and 1932, high jumper Simeon Toribio in 1932, boxer Jose Villanueva in 1932, 400-meter hurdler Miguel White in 1936, boxer Leopoldo Serrantes in 1988 and boxer Roel Velasco in 1992.

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Aside from Cerdena and Wang, other Filipino medalists in exhibition or demonstration sports were taekwondo’s Stephen Fernandez and Bea Lucero who claimed bronzes in 1992.

Of the 40 countries with Olympic medals but no gold, the Philippines stands out like a sore thumb. It has the most Olympic appearances with 20, including this year’s London Games, and most medals with nine. Iceland is next on the ladder with one less Olympic appearance. Puerto Rico is second in the category of most medals without a gold at six compared to the Philippines’ nine. Included in the roster are Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Ghana, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Paraguay and Lebanon.

What should bother Filipino sports officials is that countries like Grenada, Suriname, United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago, Hong Kong, Burundi and Mozambique have already claimed at least one Olympic gold medal.

A consolation is that 77 countries have never won an Olympic medal. The “have-nots” include Albania, Angola, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Montenegro, Guam, Fiji, Myanmar, Laos, Jordan, Turkmenistan, El Salvador, Cambodia, Congo, Brunei and Bolivia.

The Philippines has sent close to 400 athletes to the Olympics since 1924 and still, no one has reached the top. In boxing, the country has been represented by 69 fighters in 18 Olympics so far. The cast includes eight repeaters – Jose Padilla, Jr. (1932, 1936), Ernesto Porto (1948, 1952), Dominador Calumarde (1964, 1968), Rodolfo Arpon  (1964, 1968), Leopoldo Cantancio (1984, 1988), Roberto Jalnaiz (1988, 1992), Romeo Brin (1996, 2000, 2004) and Harry Tañamor (2004, 2008).

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Boxing has contributed the most medals in the country’s Olympic history with five of nine and the last four medals came from the sport dating back to 1964. However, boxing sent only one contender in 2008 and one this year. Tanamor competed in Beijing and was eliminated after just one fight. Mark Anthony Barriga made it to a second bout here and could’ve advanced to the quarterfinals if only Canadian referee Rolando Labbe didn’t penalize him for head-butting in a 17-16 loss to Kazakhstan’s Birzhan Zhakypov.

There were several close medal calls in previous Olympics. Five fighters made it to the quarterfinals but failed to reach the semifinals. They were Padilla in 1936, Simplicio de Castro in 1936, Arpon in 1964, Reynaldo Fortaleza in 1964 and Cantancio in 1984. In basketball, the Philippines placed in the top eight twice. The best finish by an Asian country in Olympic basketball was the Philippines’ fifth placing in 1936. In shooting, Martin Gison took fourth in the small-bore .22 rimfire rifle event in 1936. In weightlifting, featherweight Rodrigo del Rosario placed fifth at the 1948 Games and bantamweight Pedro Landero sixth in 1952. In high jump, Toribio slid to fourth after a playoff to break a four-way tie for second in 1928.

How long will it take for the Philippines to finally claim the elusive Olympic gold medal? It has become increasingly difficult to even qualify athletes for the Olympics and to win a medal is now almost a shot in the dark. This year’s Philippine delegation of 11 athletes is the smallest in 80 years or when only eight wore the national colors in 1932. The road to gold is tough and it will take a lot of sacrifice, vision, hard work, discipline and resources to find the pot at the end of the rainbow. But it’s not impossible. If the country’s leaders put their minds to it and get rid of politics in sports, that gold will come sooner or later.