Olympics: Pinoy as Spectators
Bleacher Talk
August 10, 2008
Olympics: Pinoy as Spectators
Did you see the beautiful opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics? How did you feel when you saw all those athletes, performers and politicians waving flags and showing off their million dollar smiles? Did you feel proud when you saw Manny Pacquiao leading the Philippine team, proudly carrying the Philippine flag? How did you feel about Asia’s hosting an Olympic Games?
It happens every four years, and each time, a host city is always on a mission to outdo all the previous hosts in the history of the Olympics. The same is true for the countries and the athletes who are out to prove that they’re the best in the world in their respective sports events. So many storylines can be drawn each time the Olympics is held, and all of these reflect dramatic stories carrying a theme to always do better than the past.
Michael Phelps is chasing Mark Spitz. In gymnastics, the Americans are out to prove that they can defeat the Chinese at their home turf. The NBA-souped up Dream Team is on a mission to get rid of the humiliating black eye of no longer being a sure gold medal winner at every Olympiad. Rafael Nadal is out to add a gold medal to his French Open and Wimbledon trophies. Ditto for Roger Federer whose only missing pieces in his trophy cabinet are an Olympic gold medal and French Open memorabilia. And before I forget, the Philippines is seeking its firs-ever gold medal. Yes, we too have our own little drama worth mentioning even if it doesn’t make any dent in the international sports scene.
If you’ll notice, we Pinoys have played only one role in every Olympics through the years, whether or not you like it and whether or not you agree with it. We’ve been reduced to the role of being mere spectators of the Olympics. No more, no less. While our athletes have worked hard to go for that elusive gold medal, we’ve always fallen short with a couple of close calls in boxing. Beyond these, the rest of us Pinoys have been left to admire the talent and skills of the traditional powerhouses. And we’re also left in envy at the achievements of our neighbors or co-level third world countries who have already won their first gold medals.
The sadder part is that we seem to be resigned to accepting this as part of our Olympic “fate.” Sad and “sayang,” di ba? Over all these Olympiads, we’ve always heard our sports leaders talking about going for that first-ever gold medal, but it has always been just that: all talk, with no honest-to-goodness programs to back this up. And when we see our neighbors winning their first few gold medals, we suddenly ask ourselves what went wrong like little innocent kids not knowing what hit us, when in fact we all know what’s wrong.
And so we ask. Will this be another frustrating Olympics for us Pinoys? So frustrating that we had to ask world champion Manny Pacquiao to carry the flag since it would be the only chance for a world champ to stand out for the country?
We’ve said this before and we’ll say this again. As we hope and pray that we finally win a gold medal in Beijing, we must also add that we ought to be acting NOW towards winning a gold medal in all future Olympic Games. We’ll have to be very honest with ourselves in assessing our realistic chances of winning a gold in Beijing. If we win a gold, great. But we also have to look forward. Preparations to win a gold should always be a long term program, and not an overnight “demand” from our elite athletes. If you’ll check out our current Philippine delegation, very few of them can claim to have come from a comprehensive and long-term program developed by our country’s sports leaders. Many of them have bloomed out of their own efforts (and pockets) with minimal assistance coming from our country’s sport programs.
And so another Olympics has kicked off. And we Pinoys will once again turn out to be spectators of the biggest sporting spectacle in the world. I don’t think it’ll be a case of outdoing ourselves now, will it?
I truly hope that we’ll win an Olympic gold in my lifetime so we can finally outdo our Olympic participation from that of being a mere fan to being a real winner.
oOo
Time-out: Happy birthday to Ayee Venida and Ryan Benson Tan. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
August 10, 2008
Olympics: Pinoy as Spectators
Did you see the beautiful opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics? How did you feel when you saw all those athletes, performers and politicians waving flags and showing off their million dollar smiles? Did you feel proud when you saw Manny Pacquiao leading the Philippine team, proudly carrying the Philippine flag? How did you feel about Asia’s hosting an Olympic Games?
It happens every four years, and each time, a host city is always on a mission to outdo all the previous hosts in the history of the Olympics. The same is true for the countries and the athletes who are out to prove that they’re the best in the world in their respective sports events. So many storylines can be drawn each time the Olympics is held, and all of these reflect dramatic stories carrying a theme to always do better than the past.
Michael Phelps is chasing Mark Spitz. In gymnastics, the Americans are out to prove that they can defeat the Chinese at their home turf. The NBA-souped up Dream Team is on a mission to get rid of the humiliating black eye of no longer being a sure gold medal winner at every Olympiad. Rafael Nadal is out to add a gold medal to his French Open and Wimbledon trophies. Ditto for Roger Federer whose only missing pieces in his trophy cabinet are an Olympic gold medal and French Open memorabilia. And before I forget, the Philippines is seeking its firs-ever gold medal. Yes, we too have our own little drama worth mentioning even if it doesn’t make any dent in the international sports scene.
If you’ll notice, we Pinoys have played only one role in every Olympics through the years, whether or not you like it and whether or not you agree with it. We’ve been reduced to the role of being mere spectators of the Olympics. No more, no less. While our athletes have worked hard to go for that elusive gold medal, we’ve always fallen short with a couple of close calls in boxing. Beyond these, the rest of us Pinoys have been left to admire the talent and skills of the traditional powerhouses. And we’re also left in envy at the achievements of our neighbors or co-level third world countries who have already won their first gold medals.
The sadder part is that we seem to be resigned to accepting this as part of our Olympic “fate.” Sad and “sayang,” di ba? Over all these Olympiads, we’ve always heard our sports leaders talking about going for that first-ever gold medal, but it has always been just that: all talk, with no honest-to-goodness programs to back this up. And when we see our neighbors winning their first few gold medals, we suddenly ask ourselves what went wrong like little innocent kids not knowing what hit us, when in fact we all know what’s wrong.
And so we ask. Will this be another frustrating Olympics for us Pinoys? So frustrating that we had to ask world champion Manny Pacquiao to carry the flag since it would be the only chance for a world champ to stand out for the country?
We’ve said this before and we’ll say this again. As we hope and pray that we finally win a gold medal in Beijing, we must also add that we ought to be acting NOW towards winning a gold medal in all future Olympic Games. We’ll have to be very honest with ourselves in assessing our realistic chances of winning a gold in Beijing. If we win a gold, great. But we also have to look forward. Preparations to win a gold should always be a long term program, and not an overnight “demand” from our elite athletes. If you’ll check out our current Philippine delegation, very few of them can claim to have come from a comprehensive and long-term program developed by our country’s sports leaders. Many of them have bloomed out of their own efforts (and pockets) with minimal assistance coming from our country’s sport programs.
And so another Olympics has kicked off. And we Pinoys will once again turn out to be spectators of the biggest sporting spectacle in the world. I don’t think it’ll be a case of outdoing ourselves now, will it?
I truly hope that we’ll win an Olympic gold in my lifetime so we can finally outdo our Olympic participation from that of being a mere fan to being a real winner.
oOo
Time-out: Happy birthday to Ayee Venida and Ryan Benson Tan. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
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