MANILA – The ongoing Paris Olympics marks the 100th anniversary of the Philippines' first participation in the quadrennial multi-sport event traditionally done every leap year.
Many are expecting that the Philippines, a two-time Southeast Asian Games overall champion, would get at least one medal at the Olympiad.
In total, the Philippines has won 14 medals, including the first ever gold in Tokyo 2021, the only time a Summer Olympics event did not take place on a leap year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The lieutenant
The first Olympic medal for the Filipinos came in 1928 in Amsterdam when Teofilo Yldefonso finished third in the 200-meter breaststroke final, earning him a bronze.
The native of Piddig, Ilocos Norte scored another bronze in the same event four years later in Los Angeles.
He had a chance to go three in a row or possibly even get a better medal in Berlin in 1936, but he finished seventh.
A lieutenant in the 57th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts of the United States Army, Yldefonso helped the Philippine-American alliance during World War II.
He was caught by the Japanese army and was made to walk the infamous Bataan Death March in April 1942.
Although he survived the long walk, Yldefonso passed away at age 38 during captivity in Capas two months later.
His remains were never recovered.
The engineer
Joining Yldefonso in Hollywood in 1932 was high jumper Simeon Toribio.
Born in Zamboanga City, he was also part of the Philippines' 1928 team, but got the coveted medal (bronze) four years later.
It was some sort of revenge for Toribio as he lost a tiebreaker during the 1928 Games among him, Benjamin Hedges and Claude Menard for the silver and bronze.
Toribio tried his luck again in 1936, but he was only good for 12th place.
The civil engineer lived in Carmen, Bohol, eventually becoming a congressman from 1946 to 1953 under the Liberal Party.
He passed away 13 years later, but his descendants remain among the top public servants in Carmen.
Father and son
Another member of the 1932 Philippine team that bagged an Olympic medal was Jose Villanueva, the first podium finisher in boxing.
The Manila native scored a bronze medal in the bantamweight category, literally plucking it without breaking a sweat as his supposed opponent, American pugilist Joseph Lang, failed to show up.
Villanueva's hopes for the gold were earlier dashed in the semifinals by eventual champ Horace Gwynne.
Although there was no concrete record of how his professional career went, Villanueva would become a renowned boxing coach, eventually training his son, Anthony.
The younger Villanueva gave the Philippines its first Olympic silver during the 1964 Games in Tokyo.
However, many thought the featherweight Anthony did enough to outplay Soviet Union's Stanislav Stepashkin, but the latter still got the nod in a controversial 3-2 split decision.
Ironically, Villanueva was on the right side of another controversial decision in 1965 when he decided to turn pro.
Villanueva beat Japan's Shigeo Nirasawa at Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City by a razor-thin majority decision.
Villanueva saw enough after losing three straight bouts and retired in 1975.
Anthony Villanueva's short-lived time to shine coincided with his father training would-be boxing legend Gabriel "Flash" Elorde.
Inside the gap between the Villanuevas' medals was the bronze medal conquest of Miguel White in athletics in 1936.
More boxers emerged
The conjecture that boxing would lead to the Philippines' then-elusive Olympic gold gained ground when three more fighters came close to winning it all.
Leopoldo Serantes took another bronze in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, falling short in the semifinals against Bulgaria's Ivailo Khristov.
Four years later in Barcelona, light flyweight contender Roel Velasco got a bronze as well, losing in the semifinals after Cuba's Rogelio Marcelo knocked him out.
Then came yet another controversial silver from Velasco's younger brother, Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco.
In 1996 Atlanta, many believed that Mansueto gave boxing lessons to Bulgaria's Daniel Petrov in the final, but still lost.
The younger Velasco decided to call it an amateur boxing career due to lack of government support.
He did not to turn pro and pursued a showbiz career.
A superstar was born
With all the hopes on boxing still intact, the next closest feat to an Olympic gold came from a sport many did not see coming.
Hidilyn Diaz came out of nowhere to snare silver in 2016 Rio de Janeiro in the women's 53-kilogram weightlifting event.
Due to the average Filipino's relative size, many did not think back then that weightlifting could be an Olympic medal-winning sport.
When the Tokyo Olympics finally pushed through after a one-year postponement, Philippine sports' ultimate dream finally became a reality.
On July 26, 2021, Diaz beat China's Liao Qiuyun in the women's 55kg by just one kilogram for the gold.
She also set two new Olympic records in the process.
Her historic feat came hours after President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his sixth and last State of the Nation Address, easily overshadowing all the news out of the former Chief Executive's speech.
Also in Tokyo, boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam scored silvers, while Eumir Marcial got a bronze.
Who's next?
The three will try for gold anew in Paris, probably 28-year-old Marcial's final Olympic run before he fully commits to his pro career.
Also tagged as a favorite to win gold is gymnast Carlos Yulo, who earned berths in the final round for the all-around, vault, and his pet event floor exercise early Sunday.
Although he revealed in a social media post that he has been dealing with injuries, world No. 2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena is also counted upon to produce an Olympic medal.
The other Filipinos in Paris are rower Joanie Delgaco; fencer Samantha Cantantan; female gymnasts Aleah Finnegan, Levi Ruivivar and Emma Malabuyo; female boxers Aira Villegas and Hergie Bacyadan; weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, John Ceniza and Elreen Ando; judoka Kiyomi Watanabe; golfers Dottie Ardina and Bianca Pagdanganan; hurdlers John Cabang Tolentino and Laura Hoffman; and swimmers Kayla Sanchez and Jarod Hatch. (PNA)
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