SINGAPORE—Only bitter near-misses and not a single medal, but it won’t be exactly an empty homecoming for the nine-man Philippine delegation that returns today from the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in this orderly and charming island-state.
Other than experience and new friendships, the Filipino campaigners will bear with them, not unlike a protest placard, a resonant plea for a strong and solid youth sports development program.
While countries like China, which copped a total of 29 gold medals to top the unofficial overall race, and Jamaica, which paraded a young sprint champion in the mold of world record-holder Usain Bolt, showed fresh surge in their respective nations, the Philippines’ poor showing bared it all.
The country, stuck in the old mud of mediocrity, is badly in need of a vibrant youth sports program.
“What we really need is a long-term youth development policy, something that is coherent, integrated and takes into consideration all stakeholders,” RP chef de mission Mark Joseph told the Inquirer yesterday.
But weren’t past RP sporting debacles blamed mainly on shortness of funds?
“Cash alone is not the solution. It’s the integration of a national sporting structure, a question of the role sports can play in our culture and all of us working in unity,” Joseph said.
Frankly, Joseph said they came here hoping to score and win some.
“We came here operating on the logic we could defeat the opponents put before us, and we took our chances,” he explained.
One pool sprinter qualified in the finals, but sadly finished eighth and last in the gold-medal race. One tiny taekwondo-jin came a few points of nipping his hefty foe.
The basketball team dropped its first three assignments in the 3-on-3 tournament, before sweeping its succeeding assignments, including a sizzler over favored Puerto Rico, to finish ninth.
“Under pressure, innocence was lost, but coming this close to victory makes disappointment more acute,” Joseph said. “In reality, our team came in anonymity, made an impact and left a memory.”
In the end, it would not turn out that cozy.
Joseph said the hostage situation that led to the gory death of eight Hong Kong tourists in Manila on Monday “is causing up problems here.”
“It’s embarrassing and makes us feel awkward. I hope we don’t get booed at the closing ceremonies,” he said.
“This is an example of why sports cannot be taken as the whipping boy of our country. The truth is that we redeemed it,” he concluded.
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