Summer Olympics

by Mario Ugalino

(as published 4 years ago in MVP)

This summer 2008, the Olympic Games is again in our midst.  This important sporting event will take place in Beijing, China.  Olympic games are held every four years and believed to be the grandest and most watched athletic event this year, with billions of people watching on satellite televisions and millions more in person.  This is where most countries involved showcase their athletes prowess thus in turn generates great recognition for their country if they succeed in winning some medals.

How many gold medals will the Philippines be able to take home this time?  Or it does not matter, any silver or even a bronze medal will do!  Or are we going there again just to show up at the Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony?  Will the Philippines improve from its last Olympics performance?  The countries in Asia who are most likely to win medals are the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans.  Not too long ago, the Philippine athletes used to match the athletic abilities of most Asian athletes.  Not anymore.

What did happen to our athletic programs?  Or do they have any such programs at all?  Or can they afford to fund such athletic programs?

Every sports fan knows that the Americans and the Russians will dominate the Olympics again as usual.  Why are they so dominant?  Number one reason is because they have a large population to pick their athletes from.  Number two reason is because their athletes usually are much bigger and faster.  Number three is because their athletes train from an early age.  Number four is they usually play “daydiay ammoda a paglainganda” where they think they can succeed.  For example, if they are not tall, they do not try to become basketball players.  They would normally go into different sports game.

The Philippines should be able to pick great athletes from its large population.   The Filipino athletes are not bigger and faster than the Americans and Russians but the Philippine athletes are quicker and smarter.  The Philippines should religiously train their athletes early on just like most countries do.  If they find some kid who excels in swimming, they should encourage the kid to train as a swimmer.  If they discover some kid who is a fast runner or has ability in long distance running, then train the kid to track and fields.   We know that the Philippines produces good baseball little leaguers as evidenced by past Little World Series games.  The Philippines must continue to train them, encourage them and always seek ways to improving their baseball skills.  They might not jump higher but they can throw!  They are the future Olympians!

Look at the Chinese.  They win gold medals in diving competitions.  They are considered the team to collect a lot of diving medals this summer Olympics. And playing at their own backyard should help them.  They are not bigger, faster or quicker than us but they train long hours everyday and most of them give up most of their personal endeavors for the sake of their country.   Can we Filipinos sacrifice our time for the sake of collecting a medal for our Motherland?  Now is the time to proceed!

We Filipinos will also succeed through hard work and dedication.  Diving is one Olympics sports that I believe we can excel and succeed.  With proper training, we can win medals in diving the same way the Chinese do.  We need to instill in our children’s young minds that basketball is not the only sport that they can play and compete in.  I hate to say this but I believe basketball is not for us to compete outside  of Asia. We can play basketball within the Philippines.  We can compete and beat some teams from Asia but in reality, we will never win any basketball Olympic qualifying games to get in.

So let us invest more towards diving and baseball where we can win.  Forget basketball.  Let us support diving and baseball where we can compete and win some medals.  Let us start now for the future.  Also, there’s no doubt that we can win a bunch of boxing medals.  Boxing is natural to Filipinos.  The Philippines has accumulated numerous professional boxing champions, so with hard training and dedication,  there’s no doubt that we can win lots of boxing Olympicmedals also.  I predict that we will win our first gold medal ever this summer!

What if we incorporate some of our games growing up in Magsingal with the Olympics?  There would be no competition to us at all!  I just want to share some of the games where we could definitely win games. Like “sia-tong”, “sit-bong-sit” or even “San Pedro”. HE! HE! HE!  There are no other countryin the world that could compete with us!  But I can only imagine how those games would be.

Frankly, I am just kidding! But if we happen to get all of us (abroad and home) together in the future, we should definitely plan to have a “sia-tong” and “sit-bong-sit” games on our agenda.  I am sure that everyone will definitely want to play and reminisce the games we played as kids growing up in our beloved town of Magsingal.  I am proud to say that those games are our “OLYMPICS”!

ALOHA to everyone!