Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories. – Sun Tzu
The Beijing Olympic is just around the corner and all participating countries are gearing up, hoping and speculating how much gold medals they will win. The Philippines is no exception. We created programs and spent lots of money with one thing in mind, to bring home that much coveted Olympic gold. From Marcos’ Gintong Alay to the present administration’s dangling of millions of pesos to who ever win that elusive medal, we must have our Quixotic dream.
But let’s face it. We field in entries in almost all events without thinking if we have a chance to even qualify. Not only that, as far as I know, we are the only country whose officials outnumber athletes in its contingent. Unlike the Kenyans, where you can count their group in your fingers during the opening ceremony parade, yet how many gold do they brought home? Five? Six? It speaks volume considering their fewer numbers. That’s because they concentrate in only one, the long distance running events. Their bodies are built for it; it’s their strength so they focus on it.
Except for boxing, Filipinos doesn’t have the body structure to compete in any international athletic event that requires strength, speed and stamina. You know where were good at? Skills. We’re world class when it comes to bowling, billiard and martial arts because it requires skill. We should concentrate more on events that involved skill like archery, gymnastic, synchronized swimming and diving, instead of recruiting Fil-Ams from American Universities for track and field or paying professional basketball players with questionable citizenship.
If we pool in our resources and capitalize where we’re good at, then maybe we will have a chance to fulfill our fantasy.
You raise a valid point here in that the Philippines should just focus its efforts and resources on those events where our athletes have a more than decent chance of winning.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder how much time our athletes spend preparing for the Olympics. A lot of athletes in other countries spend years preparing for the Olympics. I wonder if our athletes do the same.
Big companies( San Miguel,Santa Lucia,Shell etc.) should also sponsor other sports aside from basketball,why not develop soccer, handball or other sports where height and build is not as important.Darn!! my favorite sport is "Sabong" he he he.
ReplyDeletepanaderos, what I know is that in other countries after every olympic games, training sila ulit. Kaya that's 4 years of preparation.
ReplyDeleteed v., we're also good in baseball but its not popular among kids except in Canlubang and Zamboangga. Sad to say we're still prone to cheating even in Little League tournaments.
i agree. pero dahil dumadami ang fil-am, nagkakaroon na rin tayo ng chance sa strength. hehehe...
ReplyDeletedonG, Fil-Ams are a big factor for us in garnering medals in regional meets like ASEAN and Asian Athletic events. But I've never heard of a Filipino qualified in any track & field events in the Olympics.
ReplyDelete