A historic Olympic journey for the Philippines’ golden generation of athletes

Rooted in the ancient games held in Olympia, Greece, the modern Olympic Games are the world’s premier competition with 206 teams representing sovereign states and territories from around the world competing for the coveted gold medal in any sport . Only the best athletes are allowed to participate in the international sports games. Therefore, winners of any of the 329 medal events become a great source of pride, honor and excellence for their home country.

Ahead of the recently held Olympic Games in Paris, France, the Philippines has won a total of one gold medal, five silver and eight bronze medals since their debut at the 1924 Paris Olympics. At the previous Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2022, Hidilyn F. Diaz won hers and the country’s only gold medal in the women’s 55 kilogram (kg) weightlifting category.

During this year’s edition of the Olympic Games, the Philippines sent a total of 22 athletes from nine different disciplines, including rowing, boxing, weightlifting, gymnastics, athletics, fencing, golf, swimming and judo, with Tokyo 2020 silver medalists Nesthy A . Petecio and Carlo Paalam as flag bearers.

Aiming to match – or even surpass – the country’s performance in the previous competitions, the team won two gold and two bronze medals this year and has racked up 37 victories.^e in the Olympic medal list. This historic Olympic run gave the Philippines its highest Olympic ranking since the 1964 Tokyo Games, where the country finished in 30th place.^e with a single silver medal.

After a somewhat disappointing performance at the 2020 Games, Philippine gymnast Carlos P. Yulo bounced back in spectacular fashion to reach the finals of three artistic gymnastics events, namely: the individual all-around, floor exercise and vault competitions.

To begin his campaign for a gold medal, Mr. Yulo when he dismounted during the pommel horse portion of the individual all-around final and scored a paltry 11.900. The Filipino gymnast cleared the daunting first rotation to go on to score a 13.933 in the rings, a solid 14.766 in the vault, 14.500 in the parallel bars, 13.600 in the horizontal bar and a 14.333 in the floor exercise. Overall, Mr. Yulo had a slow start and finished in 12th place^e place.

For his second finals event, the Filipino gymnast was pitted against Tokyo gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat of Israel and top seed in the qualifying stage Jake Jarman of Great Britain in the men’s floor exercise.

In a historic moment that gave the country its second ever Olympic gold medal, Mr. Yulo’s three-and-a-half-turn dismount, capped by his signature double fist pump towards the judges and a salute to the fans in Paris. His performance earned him a score of 15,000, narrowly beating Mr Dolgopyat (14,966) and Mr Jarman (14,933), who won silver and bronze respectively.

Chasing back-to-back gold medals, the Filipino gymnast entered the vault competition with confidence as evidenced by his performance in the event. Before his first jump, Mr. Yulo to get one of only two 6.0 difficulty safes in the competition. His angled Dragulescu, two forward somersaults with a half twist at the end of the movement in a angled position, earned him a score of 15.433.

Mr. Yulo then performed a triple twist for his second jump with enough precision to give him a score of 14.800. This brought his total score to 15.116, giving him the lead in the event, which he never relinquished en route to his second gold medal in less than 24 hours and the country’s third of all time.

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ largest boxing delegation since the 1996 Atlanta Games was in the boxing ring looking to finally win the country’s first boxing gold medal. Joining Ms Petecio and Mr Paalam were Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Eumir DS. Marcial and two debutants, Hergy Bacyadan and Aira Villegas.

Hoping to improve on his performance from the previous matches, Mr Marcial suffered a devastating points defeat to Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullaev in the round of 16 of the men’s 80kg division.

Meanwhile, Mr Paalam said goodbye to his Olympic gold medal dreams after losing in the quarter-finals to Australian Charlie Senior via split decision in the men’s 57kg division. Furthermore, Ms Bacyadan failed to overcome the opposition against China’s Li Qian, losing by unanimous decision in the round of 16 to the women’s 75kg.

Not all was lost for the boxing team, however, as Ms. Villegas and Ms. Petecio each won their round of 16 and quarter-final matches to advance to the semi-finals of their respective divisions.

In her semi-final in the women’s 50kg division, Ms Villegas settled for bronze after a spirited battle against the more experienced Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkiye, who dominated in the ring and won the scorecards via unanimous decision with three judges scoring the match 30. 27 while the remaining two with 30-26.

In another heartbreaking match, Ms Petecio came up short against Poland’s Julia Szeremeta, losing by split decision in the semi-final of the women’s 57kg boxing. Despite the painful defeat, her valiant effort earned her a well-deserved bronze medal as she became one of only four Filipinos with at least two medals in the quadrennial games.

In addition to these three medalists, several Filipino athletes also came agonizingly close to securing podium places. World No. 2 pole vaulter Ernest John U. Obiena made a mistake on his third attempt to clear 5.95 meters as he lost the bronze to Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis.

Additionally, Filipino golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina showed off in their competition. Ms Pagdanganan in particular finished in third place after finishing the final round at six-under 282 with only a few golfers remaining. The moment will be short-lived, however, as China’s Xiyu Lin birdied her final hole to finish at seven-under 281 and take the bronze medal. Meanwhile, Ms Ardina carded a three-under 285 to finish a respectable 13th^e on her Olympic debut.

With high expectations following Ms. Diaz’s victory in the previous competitions, Filipino weightlifter Eireen Q. Ando placed sixth in the women’s 59kg weightlifting class after lifting a total of 230kg, just five shy of a medal. Fellow weightlifters Vanessa Sarno and John Ceniza were forced to retire early after failing to lift the snatch portion of the women’s 71kg and men’s 61kg weightlifting respectively.

Other Filipino athletes who also participated in this year’s Olympics are: Lauren Hoffman and John Cabang Tolentino in track and field; Aleah Finnegan, Emma Malabuyo and Levi Jung-Ruivvar in women’s artistic gymnastics; Kayla Sanchez and Jarod Hatch swimming; Joannie Delgaco in rowing; Samantha Catantan in fencing; and Kiyomi Watanabe in judo.

As the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris draw to a close and the world sets its sights on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, United States, the Philippines can take immense pride in its golden generation of athletes who have competed for two consecutive Olympic Games have shown the world what Filipinos can do. Doing. With two gold and two bronze medals, this year’s Olympic journey has, by a precise twist of fate, been nothing short of historic. — Jomarc Angelo M. Corpuz