Although the modern day Summer Olympics have been held since 1896, the Philippines first sent athletes to compete in the games only in 1924. Since then, the country has religiously competed in every Summer Olympic Game to date, except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics.
When Mongolia won its first gold during the 2008 Olympics, the Philippines was thrust into the limelight as the record-holder for the most Olympic medals without a gold.
Over the country’s course of 85 years and 19 Olympic Games, Filipino athletes have only won a total of nine Olympic medals, with boxing as the top medal-producing sport.
Money problems
Head Coach Noel Santos of the Philippine gymnastics team says that the country’s lack of Olympic success is brought about by insufficient, and often mismanaged funding. “It is never a question of talent,” he says. “Our gymnasts [are] among the most talented there is; it is simply a lack of funding.” This lack of funds means that the country can only support a maximum of five teams to compete in international competitions. Out of the four kinds of gymnastic meets, the teams can only compete in three. The teams lack Olympic- standard equipment for training, particularly in bars and vault events.
“What’s the use of desystermination to train, if there aren’t any facilities to train with?” says Santos in Filipino.
Swimming faces the same problem, as pools are expensive to build and even more expensive to maintain, according to Ateneo swimming team head coach Archie Lim. Since only wealthy institutions can afford quality and Olympic standard pools, not many people have the chance to fully invest in the sport.
Lim adds that the problem in swimming is the lack of appreciation for the sport. “In our country, swimming is taken more as a leisure activity than a sport, unlike in the US where swimming is a required subject for some students,” he says.
Mismanaged systems
Former national team coach Nonoy Unso of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) says that aside from the lack of funding and exposure, the foremost problem for track athletes is the lack of better management.
“[PATAFA] has the programs and structure for their athletics training program,” says Unso. “[The problem is] no one is following it.” Consequently, the training under- gone by the athletes barely reaches “Olympic intensity,” according to Unso.
Aside from this, however, Unso points out that the people responsible for strictly implementing the constructed program aren’t doing their job.
“The mismanagement is so bad that there are coaches of the team who are just there sitting idly,” says Unso. “On the other extreme, there are coaches who were hired without assigned players to train.”
As a rule, national team coaches are usually assigned as full-time trainers to the team. This allows the coaches to fully prioritize their team and establish a bond with the athletes. But according to Unso, almost all coaches in PATAFA teach and also train part-time. Additionally, one or two schools are assigned to several coaches.
“The problem really is that no one solves or over- sees anything in the system, [from] the implementation of the program to the qualifications of the coaches,” says Unso in Filipino. “Discipline is really needed.”
Lack of support
According to Santos, lack of funding restricts the implementation of a proper grassroots system. This refers to the grooming of potential athletes from childhood.
In other countries, systems are in place to assure the ready replacement and maturing of future national team athletes.
In China, several gymnast schools for children in pre-school levels have been set up to train these future athletes. In the USA, scholar- ships are granted to graduat- ing high school students with a talent for the sport.
In the Philippines, however, support only comes with being part of the national team; the rest is all self-support. According to Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) executive assistant Gina Calaguas, majority of the country’s athletes come from the provinces.
Joining the teams eases the burden for their families to feed them, as they leave their houses to train in the city. However, Santos says before these aspirants from the provinces are qualified to join the national team, they have to shoulder some expenses.
Calaguas says that this lack of support becomes a problem, for example, when athletes are given food money for their proper diets. “They would rather buy cup noodles and send the rest of the money back home,” she says.
Absorbing the burden of all Philippine Olympic sports is the Philippine Olympic Committee, the governing body of Olympic teams and standards in the Philippines. POC is a non-government organization recognized and accredited by the internationally by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It overlooks all the problems experienced by the internationally competing teams.
For Calaguas, lack of government priority for sports is a key problem when it comes to the Olympics.
“How can you put sports as a priority, when our basic necessities haven’t been satisfied by the community?” Calaguas asks.
Hope for the future
Despite the overwhelming odds, the Philippines still manages to excel in sports. Back in 2005, the Philippines was the overall champion in the SEA Games.
As of press time, a law that would address funding concerns is being passed. Republic Act No. 6847 for Athletic Funding Mandate seeks to secure proper funding for the athletes. “It will be a big relief for our athletes,” says Calaguas. “If it’s implemented, our athletes’ lives will improve.”
According to Lim, there are currently eight fully-funded swimmers training in the new Olympic standard swimming facility in Laguna.
“There’s always hope for the aspiring swimmers for our country,” says Lim.
“Despite the hardship they [swimmers and gymnastics] face with their facilities and trainings, they still manage to invest and work hard in the sport,” Santos says of the country’s gymnasts. “That’s the true meaning of passion.”
Additionally, the first of several projects to build Olympic standard training facilities has already been put up in Clark, Pampanga, says Calaguas. “It’s a good start already,” she says.
