MANILA, Philippines – The 2024 Paris Olympics served as sort of a coming-out party for Philippine sports, as standout athletes proved that the country’s gold-medal breakthrough in the 2020 Tokyo Games was no fluke, and that it is ready for, aptly enough, a golden era in its long history in international events.
Following practically a century of dormancy on the world stage, the Filipino contingent now has three Olympic gold medals in its war chest over just a three-year period, with a handful more silvers and bronzes to prove that the Philippines is here to fight the world’s best with full confidence.
Here are the many high points of the country’s electric Paris campaign, albeit still with a handful of lows to round out the entire historic experience.
Carlos Yulo vaults to double-gold legend
Carlos Yulo, although already a Filipino household name before Paris, quite literally catapulted himself to international superstardom after capturing the floor exercise gold, then the vault title less than 24 hours from each other, stepping on podiums that no other Filipino gymnast has ever been on in history.
With little indication that he was actually a gold-medal contender after placing 12th in the individual all-around, the 24-year-old Yulo shocked the world as he made the most of his only two apparatus finals, edging more established foes like Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat in floor and Fil-British Jake Jarman in vault.
Yulo now comes home a national hero, an impending multi-millionaire, and the top face of Philippine sports for at least the next four-year Olympic cycle.
Women’s boxing, men’s gymnastics smash stereotypes
Staying with the significance of Yulo’s double-gold haul, the pride of Manila also sent a seismic, generational shift to grassroots sports development, emphatically driving home the point that the pursuit of a gymnastics career is by no means reserved for female aspirants.
Paris bronze medalists Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas likewise continued to smash the stereotype that boxing is a man’s sport through and through – that women will struggle to find success in combat sports.
At the conclusion of the Paris Olympics, Yulo and Villegas stood proudly as the closing ceremony flag bearers, not only waving the nation’s colors, but also waving off barriers of tradition in Philippine sports and society at large.
Women run the world stage
Speaking of breaking barriers, Filipinas were at the forefront of rewriting history with their Paris campaigns, as many firsts were made with their names next to them, regardless of results.
Joanie Delgaco painstakingly fought despite middling results and set the stage as the first Filipina rower in Olympic history, a distinction she shared with promising Samantha Catantan over at fencing.
Fil-Ams Aleah Finnegan, Emma Malabuyo, and Levi-Jung Ruvivar, meanwhile, spurned the enticing support and opportunities under the American stars and stripes in favor of being the first Filipina gymnastics representatives in the Olympics in exactly 60 years.
Lastly, boxer Hergie Bacyadan became the first openly transgender Filipino athlete to compete in the world’s biggest sports stage, loudly encouraging other queer athletes that there are no limits to those willing to test and break them.
Glimmering history beyond the golds
As already established, not all victories are measured in medals of different hues, but also from other metrics worth celebrating.
Fil-Canadian swimmer Kayla Sanchez, for example, finished nowhere near the women’s 100-meter freestyle podium, but nonetheless rewrote history after smashing her own Philippine record in the discipline, tallying a 53.67-second finish to clinch a semifinal berth after posting 54.25 a month before.
The Philippine contingent also hit new milestones as a collective, pushing the country to its all-time best Olympic medal haul, highest overall rank at 37th, and topping the Paris medal tally of Southeast Asian nations, despite regularly being a middle-of-the-pack SEA Games participant.
Heartbreaking, yet promising close shaves
Some achievements in the Paris Olympics, however, can only go so far in terms of sugarcoating and silver-lining searching, ultimately leaving lumps in Filipinos’ throats that can be hard to swallow.
World No. 2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena made this clear following his Paris medal pursuit, as he noted that while his new Philippine record fourth-place finish is a good thing, being one painful step away from the podium is the epitome of sports being “beautiful but brutal.”
Over at golf, Bianca Pagdanganan fell in the same boat as her monumental, unlikely comeback from 13th place fell one stop short of a medal at fourth overall after four rounds.
Sometimes in the search of high and low points, both can be true.
Mind the (mental) gap
There is a world of difference in asking “How did you do?” to “How are you doing?”
That is the situation that first-time Olympian Vanessa Sarno found herself in as she, along with Elreen Ando and John Ceniza, ultimately failed to recreate the Olympic medal magic of weightlifting predecessor Hidilyn Diaz with early exits in their respective weight classes.
After collecting a DNF (did not finish) due to blowing all her three snatch chances, Sarno lamented over the “toxic environment” that festered in the weightlifting team’s buildup to the Paris Games, including an apparent failure to cater to her personal coaching choices to help with her mental state.
Asked for comment, Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella dismissed Sarno’s issue, puzzling over the “fuss” of it all and saying “for the meantime, let her performance speak for itself,” and that, “she got the coach she really wanted.”
Wardrobe malfunctions
Ideally, all athletes should be treated equally in international competition regardless of their medal chances, but unfortunately for the Philippine Olympic contingent, that seemed to not be the case.
Dottie Ardina, one of the country’s two golfing representatives alongside Pagdanganan, publicly blasted officials over the surprising lack of uniforms for the tandem, in a video rant that also showed her manually plastering a Philippine flag patch over a shirt she had to buy herself.
In a hasty statement, the Philippine Olympic Committee and National Golf Association of the Philippines merely shifted blame to outfitter Adidas, saying that it was “unacceptable” that the uniforms got stuck with their delivery courier.
Potential
Overall, the 2024 Olympics was chock-full of historic milestones, genuine moral victories, and on the flip side, lessons that every member of the Philippine contingent can learn from.
High and low points aside, the Paris Games proved that the country still has real, untapped potential in doing better, despite already competing for a full century.
As the popular modern Filipino phrase goes, “Malayo pa, pero malayo na.” (We’ve far to go, but we’ve come so far.) – Rappler.com