Lean Team Phl got it done – Gomez

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Sports Commission officials are in the same page with Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. in so far as outlook on Team Phl’s campaign in the recent 27th Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar.

Commissioner Jolly Gomez, the government sports body’s representative during the 11-day campaign, expressed satisfaction with the Pinoy bets’ 29-gold, 34-silver, 38-bronze medal output and seventh place standing.

A day after Cojuangco declared that the athletes “did well” despite what some quarters perceived as a woeful performance, Gomez pointed to the medal-to-delegation ratio of the “lean” 210-member delegation, especially given the circumstances in Myanmar.

“Our intention was to send only a delegation that will win gold or silver medal. We sent 210 athletes and out of 210, 134 got a medal, which is a ratio of 63. 8 percent. This is the highest ratio we’ve ever had of medals to delegation, which means our objective of sending a lean and mean delegation was sakto (on the money),” Gomez said.

The Phl fielded in one of the smallest contingents in recent years in Myanmar, ruing the absence of a number of Olympic sports preferring to skip “indigenous” sports that the hosts calendared.

“We understand the need for regional cooperation being part of the Asean, and even though there’s chinlone, vovinam, etc., we still sent a delegation. As a matter of fact, we sent a delegation even in sports we knew we wouldn’t win,” he said.

Prior to the Myanmar joust, Gomez said he projected a haul of 27-33-29. 

“We’re actually within our projection. And that 29 could have been easily 34, which would have tied us with Singapore (at sixth place), if not for two gold medals we lost in boxing, one in muay, one in poomsae and one in karate (due to hometown decisions),” he said. “If you look at the medal count, we’re still very successful.”

Looking at the achievers’s list, Gomez said the SEAG campaign showed how the agency’s “priority athletes” program and youth development programs are beginning to bear fruit.

“Many sports have been successful because a lot of the priority athletes we’ve focused on full-time training delivered for us despite all odds,” he said, citing the cases of archery, athletics, karate, judo, wrestling, and wushu which gained from foreign training.