By Alex P. Vidal
“It’s not about winning at the Olympic Games. It’s about trying to win. The motto is faster, higher, stronger, not fastest, highest, strongest. Sometimes it’s the trying that matters.” — Bronte Barratt, Australian swimmer and 2008 gold medalist
A TIE for 35th place with Hong Kong out of 184 countries that competed in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games or Paris Olympics (July 26-August 11) made the Philippines climb to the lofty ranking better than its 50th place (tied with Slovakia with one gold, two silvers, one bronze apiece) finish in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games or Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 because of the pandemic.
Our 2024 Paris Olympics overall ranking was actually only our second highest in the history of the World Olympics Games since we made our presence felt with a lone entry in the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Our highest finish was in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics where we wound up 25th with three bronze medals out of only 37 countries.
Why only 37 participating countries? Because depression kept many athletes around the world from making the trip, thus only 1,206 men and 126 women athletes made it in that year’s greatest Games on earth.
Those who delivered the bronze for the Philippines were swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso (200-meter breaststroke), who also won bronze in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics; Simeon Toribio (high jump), who was also part of Team Philippines’ 1928 Olympic team; and boxer Jose Luis Villanueva (bantamweight).
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In this generation, we were only aiming for a dignified trip to the clouds in France, but Carlos Yulo’s spirit-enhancing two-gold avalanche (floor exercise and vault) and the two bronze medals from female boxers Aira Villegas (50 kg) and Nesthy Petecio (57 kg) pushed Team Philippines skyrocketing to the stars “Citius, Altius, and Fortius” or swifter, higher, stronger (this is the Olympic Games motto).
“Swifter” we added another gold to the single gold weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz brought home in the Tokyo Olympics; “higher” we improved the medal haul from Tokyo to Paris; “stronger” we might eclipse the two successive swashbuckling conquests in Tokyo and Paris in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games or Los Angeles Olympics if lady luck and the lucky starts above will continue to coexist with Team Philippines.
By that time, our athletes in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with full support from the exiting Marcos Jr. administration and a groundswell of patronage from private sector, would be more emboldened and inspired to upgrade if not duplicate the dazzling Paris Olympics coup.
Yulo, now the poster hero of Philippine sports, is expected to collaborate with the government to plot the grand invasion in L.A four years from now.
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Here are some of the most unforgettable quotes about the World Olympic Games:
“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”
— Wilma Rudolph, American sprinter and three-time gold medalist.
“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does — that makes you a winner right there.”
— Venus Williams, American tennis player and four-time gold medalist.
“Adversity and perseverance and all these things can shape you. They can give you a value and a self-esteem that is priceless.”
— Scott Hamilton, American figure skater and 1984 gold medalist.
“Failure I can live with. Not trying is what I can’t handle!” — Sanya Richards Ross, former American track and field athlete and four-time gold medalist.
“Don’t ever let your memories be bigger than your dreams.”
— Jim Craig, American ice hockey goaltender and 1980 gold medalist.
“This ability to conquer oneself is no doubt the most precious of all things sports bestows.”
— Olga Korbut, Belarusian gymnast and four-time gold medalist
“It’s all about the journey, not the outcome.”
—Carl Lewis, American track and field athlete and nine-time gold medalist.
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.”
—Jesse Owens, former American track and field athlete and four-time gold medalist.
“The ones who are successful are the ones who really want it. You have to have that inner drive otherwise it’s not going to work out.”
— Kerri Strug, American gymnast and 1996 gold medalist
“Only the strongest shoulders can carry the hopes of a nation.”
— Katie Taylor, Irish boxer and 2012 gold medalist
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)
