Olympics, Philippine Style

The Summer Olympics are over, I know. Life is back to normal -- at least, we have reverted to our nocturnal routines, catching up on sleep, and not reporting to work in the morning like zombies. Life is back to normal -- at least for us mere mortals, though perhaps not for Beijing celebrities like aqua man Michael Phelps and diminutive dynamo Shawn Johnson.

What struck me most about the Beijing Olympics was not the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies which the Chinese put up -- nor its government's ability to sugar coat human rights abuses (which reminded me of Imelda's whitewashing of slum districts to hide gross poverty from visiting dignitaries). I was mostly bothered by the story which Philstar and The Asian News carried: Lucio Offers P1M for Olympic Gold. Filipino athletes were being offered millions of pesos for bringing home Olympic medals. A memorandum of agreement had been entered into by business tycoon Lucio Tan and Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuango, which in effect would pay any gold-winning athlete in the Olympics P7 million.

Later reports indicate that the total award had ballooned to P9.5 million ($214,000) as other donors joined the bandwagon. I can imagine the handshaking and back patting which must have taken place at Lucio Tan's Century Park Hotel, where officials must have congratulated themselves for a job well done.

Republic Act 9164 offers P5 million for a gold medal, P2.5 for silver, and P1 million for bronze. Funds from government coffers, plus Philippine Airlines' P1 M, Microsoft-Philippines' P1 M, Jimmy Ong's P1 M, Manny Pacquiao's million and another half a million pesos from the Philippine Sports Writers Association come up to impressive monetary awards for our Filipino athletes. A gasoline company even came up with a year's free supply of gasoline and oil for winning Olympians and their coaches.

That's a lot of mullah. But there is something wrong in the picture. Firstly, the Olympics are intended for amateur athletes. Monetary awards are not part of the Olympics mission statement. Of course, in this day and age, it's naive to think that Phelps, Johnson, and other Olympic medalists are not going to be the recipients of lucrative endorsements. And one can argue that with the mix of amateur and professional athletes participating in the games, the line between unpaid amateurs and paid professionals have blurred. So why deprive our 15 Filipino participating athletes a shot at good fortune?

But the point really is, the Olympics cannot be won by last minute efforts. There are no shortcuts in these arduous tests of human endurance, skill, strength and performance every four years. Our fifteen Filipino athletes who competed in boxing, diving, swimming, weightlifting, shooting, archery, and taekwondo in Beijing should have been given the money four years before the beginning of the games so they could train properly for their respective events.

Is it any wonder, that after all these years, as the news story points out "no Filipino in the history of the Olympics has ever won a gold medal."? Since the 1924 Paris Olympics, the Philippines has won a measly total of 9 medals -- 7 bronze medals and 2 silvers. The Philippines has the distinction of being the country with the most medals except for gold.

Five of the nine medals won (and the two silver medals) have been in boxing. Anthony Villanueva won the silver medal for boxing (featherweight division) in Tokyo in 1964. Mansueto Velasco, fighting in the light flyweight division, won the second silver in Atlanta in 1996. The four bronze medals won outside of boxing were in swimming, in the 400 meter breaststroke (Amsterdam, 1928), the high jump (Los Angeles, 1932), the 200 meter breaststroke (Los Angeles, 1932), and the 400 meter hurdles (Berlin, 1936).

Does the United States, which brings home more medals than any country in the world, sign memorandum of agreements to entice its athletes to win? Do government officials and business tycoons meet the press to publicly offer monetary rewards for Olympians? No, money and resources are put into the rigorous training and long-term development of athletes years before the games begin. Endorsements are mere icing on the cake.

The Philippine government and its sports officials do not get it. You do not harvest unless you plant. And you cannot plant unless you prepare the soil properly. Instead of offering millions of pesos at the podium or the end of the line, they should put their money to good use by building adequate sports facilities, funding athletic programs, hiring good coaches, supporting promising athletes, etc., several years before the start of the Olympics. Failing to do the basic things, then glibly offering monetary rewards at the last minute is an exercise in futility and unproductive, self-serving publicity.

There is no reason that Philippine athletes, given the facilities to train, proper coaching, adequate nutrition, preparation, training, etc. will not perform spectacularly in future Olympics. We just need to put in the time, effort, and resources. We will not see the results we want, unless we put in the hard work. That is one lesson we, Filipinos, need to keep in mind.

And one lesson that does not apply only to sports, either.