"Sang Daang Laban Para sa Bayan" Sounds Nice But Not Accurate
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 14 Aug 2024
In numerical term, the 33rd Olympics in Paris may have really marked the Filipinos' 100 years in the global summer games since 1924 hence the slogan "Sang Daang Taon Laban Para sa Bayan".
It has nice ring to it but it is not accurate.
Let us not even talk about the fact that for four staging up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, though our athletes played for our flag, the Philippines was still largely under American tutelage including as a Commonwealth from 1935 (until 1946).
But what should be emphasized here is that the Olympics were not continued for about a dozen years due to the Second World War with London, UK holding the event in 1948 which became known as the Austerity Games due to the prevailing post war conditions.
Therefore let us not be harsh on ourselves for winning only so many medals in about 70 or so years. This is not to belittle the bronze medal exploits of prewar athletes as high jumper Simeon Toribio and swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso (our first repeat Olympics winner) but we won many of the more important medals when we are already as an independent nation.
We really ought to give ourselves more credit in trying to excel in the Olympics on our own as an independent, sovereign nation, i.e starting with the 1948 London Games. Let me stress I am not advocating for historical revisionism but merely thinking out loud.
Because I kept on hearing for example that we have yet to win a gold in boxing in the fallacious "hundred years".
We only had a lone bronze in boxing in the pre-war and pre-independence era won by Cely Villanueva in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
But after that, Anthony Villanueva, Cely's scion won what was then considered as "golden silver" (for a disputed finals loss) in Tokyo in 1964, the Philippines would win three more "golden silvers" through Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco in 1996 Atlanta and Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio in 2020 Tokyo. We also won about half a dozen more bronze medals in boxing.
What we should be most thankful for is despite not having many Olympic medalists, we have produced many more and great professional world boxing champions foremost of whom included Manny Pacquiao, Gabriel Flash Elorde and without doubt, Nonito Donaire, Donnie Nietes, Gerry Penalosa and yes, Johnriel Casimero.
For indeed, Olympic gold in boxing does not translate to successful professional boxing careers. But that is grist for another discussion in another article I would be coming up soon.
Let us not get carried away with slogans that may sound nice but not entirely true and accurate.
Let us not be harsh on ourselves for perceived shortcomings or under achievements particularly in Olympic sports. Who could have tell that our fist Olympics gold would have come from weightlifting with no less than a Filipina-Hidylyn Diaz accomplishing the feat in 2016 Rio. Or our first two gold medal winner in a single Olympics would have come in gymnastics courtesy of Carlos Yulo who started the dream of going to the Olympics as a lad from simple side of Manila playing "tambling" with his boyhood friends at the Paraiso ng Batang Maynila recreational park? Weightlifting and gymnastics are sports events Filipinos are not noted for until Hidylyn and Caloy.
Instead, we should be congratulating ourselves for and celebrating our accomplishments in and even outside of the Olympics
Tunay na magaling ang lahing Pilipino sa larangan ng palakasan.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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