BEIJING—A teary-eyed Henry Dagmil was pondering what-might-have-beens with sportswriters after crashing out of the men’s long jump Saturday night when one of the scribes asked him if he had received any good luck message from the national athletics chief.

“Wala nga e, ang tinanong sa coach ko (Joseph Sy) negosyo (Nothing, he only talked business with my coach),” said the 26-year-old long jumper from South Cotabato.

Go Teng Kok, president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa), did not join the trip here of Dagmil and female long jumper Marestela Torres.

Dagmil’s pre-Olympic training in the United States was made possible not by the Patafa but by the Philippine Olympic Committee through its president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco.

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Everyone in the Philippine quarters at the Olympic Village, from administrative staffer Eleanor Navarro-Dela Peña to chief of mission Rep. Monico Puentevella, stopped whatever they were doing Sunday morning to tune in to the Olympic channel as Michael Phelps made history at the state-of-the-art Water Cube venue.

“My God, everyone was off their seats from beginning to end of Phelps’ eighth gold-medal swim,” said Mark Joseph, head of the national swimming association. “They all watched history unfold.”

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You can’t really criticize Usain Bolt for showboating before he hit the tape and bettered his own 100-meter world record by a “mere” three hundredths (0.03) of a second Saturday night, an American CBS reporter was overheard telling his colleague.

Although Bolt could have chopped at least 0.1 of a second off the world mark if he did not look to his right, pumped his chest and slowed down with still 12 meters to go, the 6-foot-5 Jamaican was perhaps only trying to make sure he gets to break the record again in his next important competition.

“You see how easy it was for him (to break the record),” the reporter said. “Next time, he’ll get another (record).”