Chances

Tomorrow, Paris opens its doors to 22 Filipinos for a chance at Olympic glory. The elite delegation marks a century of Philippine campaign in the quadrennial games. Thus far, Filipinos brought home 14 medals. Who would make it 15 or more is answered when curtains fall after a fortnight.

Boxing remains richest source of poor medalists. They account for eight, including four silvers. Three medalists from Tokyo are back with a mission – Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial.

Gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz was denied the chance to defend her crown. By another Filipina. Elreen Ando. She and two other weightlifters will lift the entire country’s expectation to duplicate golden Hidilyn.

Although hurdlers Lauren Hoffman and John Tolentino qualified, their personal best time is unlikely to finish anywhere near medal standards. Miguel White last won the country’s medal in athletics in Berlin 1936, a bronze in the 400m hurdles.

EJ Obiena has a more realistic chance to at least equal the high jump bronze of Simeon Toribio in Los Angeles 1932. The world number two has all the credentials to vault to a medal.

Teofilo Yldefonso won the country’s inaugural medal in 1928, a swimming bronze that he reprised four years later in Amsterdam. Apart from Diaz, he is the only Filipino dual Olympic medalist.

But no other Filipino swam equal to his feat. Just like the hurdlers, the personal best time of swimmers Jarod Hatch and Kayla Sanchez is unlikely to buoy them near medal contention. After Christine Jacob, Akiko Thomson and Eric Buhain, no other homegrown Filipino swam as fast, despite living in a body of water studded with islands. Otherwise known as the archipelago.

Almost always, boxers slug the country to medal column. Even before climate changed, they were equal to the task of ending decades old medal drought. Anthony Villanueva won silver in Tokyo 1964 after almost three decades. Since then, Filipino boxers saved the country from a medal shutout. Leopoldo Serrantes ended a 24-year medal drought in Seoul 1988. The shy pugilist had to plead the president to intervene for the release of his cash incentive. Another bronze followed in Barcelona 1992, by light flyweight Roel Velasco.

Four years later in Atlanta, Onyok Velasco turned his brother’s bronze to silver. Then another drought. A woman weightlifter ended two decades of waiting. Diaz snatched silver in Rio 2016 and finally lifted the country to gold in Tokyo five years later. The solitary gold was not alone, two silvers and a bronze came along to account for the country’s best ever Olympic performance.

Aside from Obiena and the boxers, the country pins its medal hope on Carlos Yulo. The diminutive world champion stands a good chance to medal in gymnastics. While he ruled the worlds, the Olympics is a different battlefield altogether, where the heavily favored are floored and the least expected pull an upset. An athlete or two from a different discipline might surprise. But hope is not a strategy. Preparation is. But no one knows for sure. In Olympics, expect the unexpected.