Who will give sports its due?

THE Inquirer is rightfully running on the front page the positions and proposals of the 2016 presidential hopefuls so that the electorate can evaluate who has the best grasp of the problems hounding the nation.

Though there are many similarities in plans of action, there are some clear differences of opinion, either because the problem areas are so immense or that the President alone cannot solve all the concerns.

Given all the challenges facing the next head of state, it seems that sports will again take a back seat to other more pressing concerns. The needs of sports—a better-defined leadership infrastructure, funding, the training of elite national athletes and the development of better sports facilities to name a few—cannot truthfully compare with peace and order, poverty, corruption, health and others as priorities for the next President.

At best, the next President could consider a review of the role and relationship of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission. This management model has to be reevaluated simply because it has left the country off the pace of the development of other sporting countries, especially those in Southeast Asia. Countries that we once dominated in the SEA Games have overtaken us in many disciplines.

What’s more, the country still has not won its first Olympic gold medal while countries like Thailand and Indonesia have already won in boxing and badminton. Indonesia has won six golds in badminton while Thailand has won seven in boxing and weightlifting.

Of course, the country has won a fistful of bronze medals, from swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso, high jumper Simeon Toribio, boxer Jose Villanueva and hurdler Miguel White. But ever since boxer Anthony Villanueva won a silver medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the country has mustered only one more silver, from Onyok Velasco in Atlanta (1996), and two bronze medals, from Leopoldo Serrantes in Seoul (1988) and Roel Velasco in Barcelona (1992).

These realities have also been rooted in other sporting problems like the need for better sports venues and training programs. The historic and nostalgic Rizal Memorial Sports Complex is unfortunately a testament to the slow pace of sports development in the country. The Filipino athlete remains one of the most talented and gifted in the region and in the world in some disciplines but he or she is the victim of a lack of political will to do better for sports.

The coming Rio de Janeiro Olympics will again magnify all our sports shortcomings. The rest of Asia and the world will already be so many steps ahead that even getting talented Filipino athletes from overseas will not be able to turn around the problems that besiege local sports. While the rest will have hundreds of athletes vying for medals, the Philippines will have a handful of brave souls that will try to avert another Olympic debacle.
Maybe the next President can give some time for sports to initiate badly needed change.