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BEIJING—President Arroyo seems to be enjoying herself in
her first Olympics.
The
Chief Executive moved her trip back home several hours
Saturday after she and her entourage, which included
husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, decided to visit the Team
Philippines’ residential unit inside the sprawling
Olympic Village at about 5 p.m. Saturday.
The
President then intended to watch the men’s Group A
basketball match between host China and the United
States’ “Redeem Team” of National Basketball
Association stars, led by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and
Dwyane Wade at 10 p.m.
She and
company were scheduled to fly home on a chartered flight
back to Manila right after the US-China game, which was
expected to be jam-packed. She flew to Beijing Thursday
evening also on a chartered plane.
The
President became the first Philippine head of government
to grace an Olympics. Not even the late strongman
Ferdinand Marcos and Fidel Ramos, both certified
sportsmen, were able to attend an Olympics edition
during their terms.
On
Saturday President Arroyo stayed for the entire
duration—about one-and-a-half hours—to watch Mark Javier
compete in the rankings stage of the men’s individual
competition in archery. The President was with her
husband and was stunningly cool and refreshing amid the
38-degree Beijing heat in a spaghetti-strap one-piece
dress.
She was
with her usual entourage that included personnel from
the Presidential Security Group, who took the
opportunity to take souvenir photographs of themselves
with their mobile phones while the archery rankings
competition was going on.
Javier’s
coach, Sydney Olympian Jennifer Chan, was overwhelmed by
the President’s presence.
“We
[with Javier] felt so proud and we felt so important
with the President around,” Chan told the BusinessMirror.
“I thought she would just say ‘hi’ and then say
‘good-bye.’ But she stayed around and watched the whole
proceeding even though it was very hot and humid.”
While
watching Javier compete, President Arroyo noticed Asian
and Southeast Asian archers had foreign Caucasian
coaches and hinted to Philippine Sports Commission
chairman William Ramirez that perhaps Filipino athletes
should do the same.
Javier
was as surprised as Chan about the President’s presence.
“So I told him [Javier] not to feel the pressure and
just play his game,” said Chan.
The
result? Javier ranked 36th among 128 participants with a
654 performance that broke his own Philippine record by
two points.
“At
least, at this point, we have achieved something, and
that is set a new national record,” said Chan.
Javier
faces Chinese-Taipei’s Kuo Cheng-Wei in the knockout
stage toward the gold medal Wednesday. Kuo, Chan said,
is not actually a tough foe. “Halos parehas lang sila
ni Mark,” she said.
Javier
is Chan’s protégé in their Dumaguete City archery club.
Javier himself asked that Chan be his personal coach in
these Olympics. |
