If you are in the position of Bambol Tolentino, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), naturally, you will act like a father to all members of the POC.
The POC, composed of National Sports Association presidents that included Dabawenyo Paolo Tancontian of Sambo Pilipinas, closely coordinates with the funding agency, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), and other corporate backers in its preparation for international competitions.
The NSA presidents with the assistance of the coaching staff, prior to international competition, submit a line-up to the POC which is then transmitted to the PSC for the Board of Commissioners to know the budgetary requirements.
That is how it works since 1990.
Now, after the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Cambodia, we are glad to know of the sterling performances of our national athletes and our country finished fifth place over-all behind host Cambodia at fourth, Indonesia at third, Thailand at second and Vietnam at first.
The Philippines garnered 58 gold medals, compared to Cambodia’s 81, Indonesia’s 87, Thailand’s 108 and Vietnam’s 136.
There has been some controversy in the Cambodia SEAG but you see ladies and gentlemen, it is what it is when the SEAG Sports Federation allows the host to only permit sporting events that “favor” them. If you would ask me, all sports should be played and hosted by a SEAG member and this should not be changed. That would resolve the issue.
Now, let us go back to the gold medal tally.
I only mentioned the gold medals because I strongly believe that the gold medal winners are the only eligible athletes to move to the next level, that is the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
What about the silver and bronze medalists? They should be prepared to be gold medal winners in the next SEAG.
We should bear in mind that we will be up against the best that includes China and Japan, the only two countries that emerged over-all champions since the 1951 Asian Games in India.
The other top 10 countries in terms of medal count in the Asian Games are South Korea, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Thailand, North Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.
The Philippines used to be a powerhouse in the Asian Games but after 1954, we have been slowly overtaken by our neighbors in terms of sports development progress and medal harvests.
And you readers, precisely, know what are the reasons because it is public knowledge how our sports development program for the SEAG and Asian Games has declined.
A lean and mean Philippine delegation, who are qualifiers to the Asian Games, should be the only ones to be sent. Gold medals should always be the standard because if we do not set it that way, millions of pesos would only go to waste and mind you, public money is very much involved in funding our national athletes to international competitions.
I know that this suggestion puts Mayor Tolentino in a tight spot, but if we indeed have to set our standards higher in international sporting competitions, the gold medal criteria is the only way, or else, we will never be in the Top 10 performing countries in the Asian Games.
You see, the PSC in its recent social media post said about “Gintong Medalya Kaya Ng Para Atleta”.
It didn’t say “Pilak” or silver or “Tanso” or bronze. It’s “Gintong Medalya”, just like the gold in Mount Diwalwal or Boringot.
That’s the message.
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