RIO DE JANEIRO—Yeah, still no Olympic gold medal for the Philippines at Rio 2016.
Don’t worry, be happy about Hidiliyn Diaz’s silver medal from women’s weightlifting, make it glitter like gold until Tokyo 2020 comes around.
Athletes, and most likely their officials and coaches, from some other countries are going home to a reception nastier than the 13 athletes who carried the fight for the Philippines in Rio.
Countries with richer Olympic tradition than the Philippines, like Finland, Austria, Norway, Austria and Mexico, which hosted the Games in 1968, had performances that rate poorer than the Philippines.
Finland had won 100 gold medals in the Olympics but at Rio 2016, the Finns, all 54 of them, could only bring home one bronze medal from boxing’s under 60-kilogram lass.
Locked at No. 78 at the tally board with Finland was Austria. With a delegation of 71 athletes and an Olympic reputation marked by 18 gold medals, the Austrians also went 0-0-1 (gold-silver-bronze), preventing a shutout with a third-place finish in sailing’s mixed nacre 17 event.
That’s not all. Another Scandinavian country whose economy weigh far up there over the Philippines continued to languish in the Games.
At Rio, where the US underscored its domination, Great Britain jostled its way to No. 2 at the tally board and China should be satisfied it remained in the top 3, Norway was buried at No. 74 with four bronze medals, two from rowing and one each from wrestling and handball.
Norway brought 62 athletes to this party-loving and dancing city of Cariocas with an Olympic record that could trigger envy of 71 gold medals.
So even economically sound countries, places far better to live in over any one back home, have their own sporting woes to solve.
Yes, Mexico, the 1968 host whose former world and Olympic champion Maria Espinoza sent the Philippines’s very own Kirstie Elaine Alora to tears in women’s taekwondo only on Saturday.
Well, call it payback, but Espinoza was one of only three Mexicans who clinched silver in Rio and with two bronze medals, the country where tequila is an everyday drink could not match its 1-3-3 haul in London 2012 and fared poorer than the 2-0-1 record it had in Beijing 2008.
So after all the apprehensions over crimes and Zika, the Philippines could still sit down, relax and go back to the drawing board for a better 2020 performance. And, mind you, don’t blame Diaz’s batch at Rio 2016, they qualified, they trained and they endured every bullet and shrapnel in Brazil with their bravery and with the bare essential that they had.
But to do that, Filipino athletes should begin with next year’s Southeast Asian Games Malaysia is hosting.
Just like at the Singapore Sea Games in 2015, the Philippines ranked sixth—and 69th overall—among its closest neighbors with that Diaz silver. Thailand stood at No. 34 with 2-2-2, followed by Indonesia (46th), 1-2-0; Vietnam (48th), 1-1-0; Singapore (1-0-0); and Malaysia (60th), 0-4-1.
The other Sea Games countries were part of the 11,427 athletes in attendance from 207 national Olympic committees that were at Rio 2016 as participants. Lao PDR and Cambodia each had six athletes in the Games, while Brunei Darussalam and Timor Leste sent the compulsory two athletes apiece, with none earning a medal.
Satisfaction at the Olympics, however, should not be derived from other countries’ more woeful performances. There remains much work to do at home—proper training centers, more local and overseas competitions, broader grassroots program, training of competitive coaches and trainors, sports institute, better incentives for potentials, to name a few.
Let’s hope and pray legitimate sporting minds and patrons take care of Philippine sports, not individuals voted into public office with nary a credential nor know-how on anything sports.
Image credits: AP