Let’s get back in the race

Check out how “eye-opener” will be a favorite cliché as we assess the country’s performance in the 26th Southeast Asian Games.
After being mired in sixth place for the last few days in the medal tally and overtaken by countries that used to trail behind us, pundits will cry out for reforms and an overhaul of the country’s sports management.
Officials will either take the blame or point an accusing finger to help soothe some of the pain of our continued drop in the medal count.
There will be the all-too-familiar spin that the athletes gave their all for the country and that we should be proud of their valiant efforts. Filipinos are proud of sportsmen who represent them but cannot understand the country’s drastic slide from being overall champion in 2005 to dropping so low of late.
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We have contended in this space that we should not merely look at the number of gold medals won and how the race for the top spot is shaping up. However, this medal race is just too difficult to ignore.
Many of our performances do not measure up to SEA Games standards and it is hard to imagine how some athletes will progress in bigger regional or world competitions if they cannot even cause a ripple at this level.
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While there are a few bright spots like the basketball campaigns, our boxers and billiards players picking up gold medals and our softball and baseball squads dominating the opposition, we have been hit again in medal-rich disciplines that are the backbones of the frontrunners’ efforts in the race.
Swimming, which chipped in four golds in Laos, could not hit pay dirt and take home at least an ounce of the 38 gold medals at stake.
The Inquirer’s Marc Anthony Reyes reported last Saturday that the absence of star Miguel Molina, who opted to pursue a college degree, took its toll. A young and raw team faced grizzled veterans from the region.
Meanwhile, athletics could only take two gold medals from the 45 that were contested.
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Let’s not stray too far here and just consider that if we could only get a fourth of the 83 gold medals in swimming and athletics, we could vastly improve our spot in the medal count.
Giving stronger support to these two disciplines may begin through the building of better pool and track facilities for training and competition. We will also need international training and exposure.
All of these, of course, come at a very steep price, but we must pay for it if we are to win more gold medals.
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Perhaps officials have grown weary of these two sports because of the nagging issues that have besieged them.
Athletics chief Go Teng Kok has had his skirmishes with the Philippine Olympic Committee while swimming has been rocked by a leadership dispute.
Addressing these issues and concerns rather than sidestepping them will help improve the future performances of swimmers and track and field athletes.
Let’s not just open our eyes to what ails Philippine sports but initiate concrete steps to improve our SEA Games performances beginning with swimming and athletics.
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In this edition, the only country we have consistently been ahead of has been Laos. Vietnam has made a sensational surge to second place. Singapore has already overtaken us after being so far behind in the 1990s.
Let’s get back into the race before we stumble out of it completely.