NOW that Hidilyn Diaz has given us a gift of precious gold—one that had seemed out of reach for nearly a hundred years—it feels like the genie had granted us that one special wish after we mumbled the mandatory magic words.
We were beyond ecstatic, and in tears, as we followed the posts on Twitter. Then the most coveted words poured out in social media like water from a breaking dam: “History made. Hidilyn Diaz has won the first ever gold medal for the Philippines!” We were rich at last.
What a great outcome for the country. What a great moment for Philippine sports, and for Hidilyn herself whose life has been fraught with setbacks, challenges, trials and sacrifices. What a great testament too to the power of the human spirit and the greatness of God, which Hidilyn repeatedly acknowledged as she received her honors.
Come to think of it, what an achievement it is for womankind as this unique and out of the box Olympics has given us the platform to showcase the stern stuff that our female athletes are made of. As we write, Nesthy Petecio, the fearless and laser-focused boxer from Davao Del Sur, is on track to win the country another gold medal. Dalagang Filipina, yeah.
Truth be told, our sports history is highlighted with Filipina athletes who have carried us on their shoulders and given us pride in not just this Olympics, but in several more, including other international competitions, regional and global.
I got to know them one by one as I was growing up, hearing stories of their feats as if they were superheroes in a Marvel universe. In our family, my Dad was the sports buff who actively pursued his sports passions. But it was my Mom who was the storyteller. Still too young to understand sports rules and know the difference between javelin and discus, she would read me sports accounts from the newspapers about who did what and where we’re at in sports competitions. (Well okay, she read a lot of the society page too—what lifestyle sections were called during that earlier era.) Her delightful descriptions of the personalities in the sports battlefield did a lot to turn me on to the sports world, as much as my Dad’s training for me to be his cheer-mate.
From my Mom, I learned about the beautiful Von Giese Sisters—Jocelyn, Sandra, Sylvia and Sonia—who gave us pride in swimming in more ways than one. From her too, I first knew of Mona Sulaiman, the athletics star from Cotabato who won three golds in the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta for the 100-meters, the 200-meters and the 4×100 relay, and who represented us in the Rome Olympics (1960) and in Tokyo (1964).
She awoke in me a consciousness for the athletes, both men and women, beyond the records they made and smashed. But I guess she talked about the women athletes more because I remember their names better: Haydee Coloso (Espino), Gertrudes Lozada, and later, Josephine De La Viña, to name a few of those she pointed out to me in the pixelated black and white photos of yesterday’s newspapers.
When I grew older and really decided I would make sports a big part of my life, I got to know more extraordinary women athletes who gave us pride and joy and were examples for young girls to pattern themselves after. Lita De La Rosa, Bong Coo, Arianne Cerdeña, Lydia De Vega (Mercado), Elma Muros (Posadas), Akiko Thompson, Bea Lucero, among others. They were part of almost every issue of the sports magazines that I wrote for during their respective moments in the sun.
And now there are these ten young women representing the Three Stars and A Sun in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics: weightlifters Hidilyn Diaz and Elreen Ando, boxers Nesthy Petecio and Irish Magno, skateboarder Margielyn Didal, swimmer Remedy Rule, sprinter Kristina Knott, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe and golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Yuka Saso. What a fine bunch!
Together with the nine male athletes : Eumir Marcial and Carlo Paalam for boxing, EJ Obiena for pole vault, Cris Nievarez for rowing, Carlos Yulo for gymnastics, Kurt Barbosa for taekwondo, Jayson Valdez for rifle shooting and Luke Gebbie for swimming, this 19-strong Philippine Olympics team is the biggest ever to represent the country since we sent a team of 20 to the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Where we stand now, with Hidilyn’s Gold and Nesthy’s guaranteed Bronze, we can already set off fireworks to celebrate the fact that this is our best Olympics performance since the Los Angeles Games in 1932. Finishing with multiple medals in the Olympics after 89 years is cause for celebration, right?
In that earlier Olympics three Filipino athletes – high jumper Simeon Toribio, boxer Jose Villanueva and swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso – all won bronzes. In succeeding selected Olympics, we had only managed to bring home one medal per: bronze for Miguel White in athletics (Berlin 1936), silver for boxer Anthony Villanueva (Tokyo 1964), bronze for boxer Leopoldo Serrantes (Seoul 1988), bronze for boxer Roel Velasco (Barcelona 1992), silver for boxer Onyok Velasco (Atlanta 1996) and silver for Hidilyn Diaz (Rio 2016).
But the odds have never been as bright as they are now. Nesthy’s assured Bronze is only the beginning. She could bring home the country’s next Gold if the stars align. Eumir Marcial and Carlo Paalam are still in the running for similar great things. EJ Obienastill has to see action in the pole vault. Carlos Yulo will still compete in the medal round of the vault. In golf, our US Women’s Open golf champion Yuka Saso will still compete alongside Bianca Pagdanganan and Juvic Pagunsan.
Who knows what the stars have in store for us in this most unforgettable Olympics of all?
Hey Genie, we still have two wishes left!
Image courtesy of Jimbo Albano