Performance, not math, wins in SEA Games

The recent Senate hearing on the treatment our gallant dragon boat paddlers and the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation received from sports leaders exposed these officials for what they really are.
The team won five gold and two silver medals in the world championships in Florida. Yet during the televised hearing, Philippine Olympic Committee chair Monico Puentevalla, in an arrogant attempt to downplay the achievements of our rowers, told the Senate that there were 87 medals at stake in the championships.
Sen. Pia Cayetano, an avid sports buff herself, snapped back at Puentevella: “What is the point of saying 87? What are you trying to say?”
We know what he was trying to say: The Dragon Boat team performed poorly, overall, when the medals they won were measured against the medals on offer.
What Puentevella deliberately ignored was that our paddlers competed in only seven events and won medals in all of them. They also reinforced their record-breaking victories in 2007 and 2009 and won the respect of their rivals.
One of them put it eloquently when he said a dragon boat world championship without the Philippines would be like the football World Cup without Brazil.
Puentevella should be reminded that at the last Southeast Asian Games, where 372 gold medals were at stake, the Philippines won only 38 and finished a poor fifth overall.
In the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand, where 476 gold medals were up for grabs, the Philippines came home with only 41. We finished sixth, our lowest overall finish in the history of the SEA Games.
We did win top spot with 113 gold medals in 2005 here at home, but it is also important to remember that the SEA Games is certainly nowhere near world standards.
With troubles besetting the POC and some of its national sports associations, especially gold-mine track and field, we wonder how we will fare in Indonesia this November with 542 gold medals at stake in 44 sports.
POC treasurer Julian Camacho said it’s a case of simple mathematics. He told the weekly PSA Forum there are 42 sports in the SEA Games, and if every NSA wins two gold medals each, the country will take home 84 golds. It could be enough to win the overall title.
But winning gold medals against stiff competition is not a mathematical proposition. It’s a question of performance. Maybe Camacho should do the math on how much was shelled out to the foreign wushu coach he got rid of.
POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. also said some months ago the country was capable of regaining the overall title.
Quite honestly, for our country’s sake, we hope he is right. But we seriously doubt it.
Maria Luz Arzaga-Mendoza of the breakaway Aqua Sports Association put it bluntly—and correctly—when she  blamed the negative leadership of NSAs and the POC, pointing out that “a lot of people do not know that the problem in sports is not the issue of funding. The bottom line is negative governance. I’m talking here about politicking.”
Her statement jibes with the admonition of  Sen. Cayetano: “I don’t care if you don’t like their faces, but why put down a team that has brought glory to our country? I want to hear from POC and (the Philippine Sports Commission) if this team disgusts you. Are you embarrassed by this team?
Puentevella said, “We are not here to insult anybody.”
But in stating there were 87 gold medals in the world championships and the Philippines won only five golds and two silvers, he effectively insulted the intelligence of the Senate and the Filipino people.
Just recently, PSC chair Richie Garcia said that if the paddlers don’t submit themselves to the Canoe-Kayak Federation, they would have to continue to eat tahong (mussels).
The dragon boat team doesn’t disgust the nation. Our sports leaders do.