THE just-concluded 32nd Tokyo Summer Games proved that Filipino campaigners are no longer Olympic pushovers, providing much-needed relief, pride and inspiration for Filipinos back home continuing to reel from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Butch Ramirez referred to the 19 Olympians as the “most prepared” national squad while businessman-sportsman turned lawmaker Mikee Romero described them as the Philippine “Dream Team” before they went to action in Tokyo.
Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentinoboldly declared that the country’s standard-bearers could win “not one but two” mints several weeks before they set foot in the Japanese capital for the pandemic-delayed Games.
Drawing from her experiencein three previous Olympics, weightlifter Hidylin Diaz delivered the breakthrough gold medal for the country, ruling the women’s 55-kilogram division last July 26 after a nip-and-tuck battle with Chinese favorite Liao Qiuyun at the Tokyo International Forum.
As the last performer standing, Diaz, grunting with all her might, hoisted 127 kilos on her third and final try in the clean-and-jerk, nipping Qiuyun, who lifted 126 kilos immediately before her, by one kilo with a total lift of 224 kilos.
The Zamboanga City pride, who had lifted 97 kilos in the snatch, ended 97 years of Philippine frustration in the Olympics since the country’s maiden appearance in the 1924 Paris Games, finishing her fourth straight Summer Games stint by setting Olympic records in the clean-and-jerk and total lift.
At the end of the two-week sports extravaganza yesterday, the Philippines was proudly perched among the top 50 in the overall medal tally, tied for 49th place with Slovakia with one gold, two silvers and one bronze medal from the 19 Olympians who saw action in 11 disciplines in the Games.
The country also had two other finalists, with gymnast Carlos EdrielYulo placing fourth in the men’s vault finals among eight athletes and pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena winding up 11th among 14 athletes, as added highlights to the best Philippine Olympic outing ever.
The epic showing was a vast improvement from a five-way tie for 69th place after Diaz took home a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Diaz’s feat back then was the third silver and first outside boxing at that time after Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco garnered them in the 1964 and 1996 Atlanta editions, respectively.
The national standard-bearers were just two rungs below India, a country of over one billion people, which fielded 121 athletes in 16 sports and had one gold, two silvers and four bronzes.
Southeast Asian powers Indonesia and Thailand stood at Nos. 54 and No. 59, respectively, with 1-1-3 and 1-0-1 tallies, while Malaysia (0-1-1) finished in a three-way deadlock at No. 74. Vietnam and Singapore, which were Nos. 48 and 54, respectively, in Rio went home empty-handed this time.
Tolentino’s fearless forecast fell just one short of a gold, but — oh my — how tantalizingly close it came in becoming a reality through the inspired performances of boxers NesthyPetecio, Carlo Paalam and Eumir Felix Marcial.
All making their Olympic debuts, Petecio and Paalam will return home with a silver medal apiece while Marcial will boast of a bronze around his neck for the most glittering success of Pinoy ring warriors in the Games.
Among them, Petecio came closest to the gold but had the misfortune of meeting in the finals baby-faced hometown bet SenaIrie, the same boxer who deprived the Davao del Sur pride of an outright Tokyo slot in the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifiers in Amman, Jordan in March last year with a 4-1 win in the quarterfinals.
Peteciohad hurdled top-seeded Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting with a thrilling 3-2 split decision in the second round, then disposed of taller rivals Yeni Arias of Colombia (5-0) and Italy’s Irma Testa (4-1), the reigning European champion, in the quarterfinals and semis to bolster her gold-medal bid.
But she was frustrated by the wily Japanese, who repeatedly tied up and grappled with the feisty Pinay boxer, preventing her from getting into the groove.
Peteciocarved her own niche in local sporting lore, emerging as the first Filipina medalist in Olympic boxing.
Paalam, another Olympic debutant like Petecio, brought the survivor’s mentality of a former scavenger in Cagayan de Oro to the fore, not wasting the rare opportunity he had been given.
Petecio and Paalam were last-minute additions to the national team after their hopes of competing in Tokyo were seemingly dashed when the world Olympic qualifying meet was scrapped last June in Paris, France due to the pandemic.
Thanks to the world ratings of the International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force, which took over the supervision of the event from the discredited International Boxing Association, known by its French acronym AIBA, bothfighters gained Tokyo tickets as the top-ranked entries in their respective divisions.
Paalam appeared to have cleared his path to the gold with a stunning upset of reigning world and Olympic champion ShakhobidinZoirov in the semis.
Displaying veteran savvy for an Olympic rookie, the Pinoy boxer took the fight to the fancied Ukrainian from the opening bell, building an early lead with quick combinations against his slow-starting rival.
When they accidentally butted head and sustained cuts inthe second round that halted the fight, Paalam had earned enough points to advance to the finals. So distraught was Zoirov by the outcome that he refused to shake hands with the Pinoy pug.
Paalam’snear-storybook stint ended when he went down in the first round in the finals courtesy of a four-punch combination from Galal Yafai, the first British boxer to win a gold medal in 65 years in the weight class. The Briton prevailed via a 4-1 split decision last Saturday.
Marcial’s campaign was ended much earlier in the middleweight semifinals by top favorite Ukrainian Oleksandr Khyzniak, who had racked up a 62-match winning streak entering the match and rallied in the last round to fashion out a tense 3-2 win.
