POC finds PH bets home for Paris 2024

POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino listens to questions from the Inquirer Sports staff during the group’s planning session in Tagaytay City. —INQUIRER SPORTS

Wanting to make sure that Philippine athletes who qualify to the Paris Olympics in 2024 will have all they need to acclimatize, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) on Thursday inked a deal with officials of the City of Metz in France which will be ready to do that.

Dubbing the accord as the “French Connection,” the POC led by president Rep. Bambol Tolentino proudly made the announcement and bared its details.

“We at the POC are making sure our qualified athletes are well-prepared and acclimatized for the Paris Olympics,” Tolentino said after sealing the partnership.

Tolentino and La Moselle President Patrick Weiten signed the memorandum of understanding in a ceremony intended to be formal and simple but turned as a press event with local French media covering.

Under the agreement, Filipino bets campaigning in the Games will be sent to Metz two months before the Olympics. There, the PH bets can get used to everything—including the food—to get them ready for the July 26-Aug. 16 Games.

Metz is some 300 kilometers west of Paris and has an environment conducive to athletes’ training. It has a 3,000-year rich historical, cultural and architectural background that put it on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

The Philippines won its first Games gold in 2021 in Tokyo courtesy of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, and the POC is eyeing to send more than the 19 athletes that represented the country in Japan.