THE INTERNET is a more individual media platform and that’s why television continues to provide shared viewing of the Olympic Games. Passionate followers of specific sports can demand for their preferences in some cable formats, but the Olympics as a TV program of different sports and athletes makes us relish them every four years as families, friends or neighbors. We do the same with our favorite soap operas, action formats or reality TV shows.
TV brought us the agonizing close to real-time struggles of our Filipino athletes. We particularly felt the pain of Filipino weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz and boxer Mark Barriga. You could actually sense all of us trying to collectively lift Diaz’s arms to get a clear hoist. It was not enough as our proud flag bearer and her Olympic dream came to a halt.
After his first round win, Barriga was clearly buoyed up to advance deeper in the boxing competition. But Barriga’s dream ended in less than 15 minutes in his second bout.
He lunged and stretched to reach the taller Birzhan Zhakypov of Kazakhztan but ended up with two point deductions that would be his undoing. The Kazakh was in the wrong sport as he spent more time wrestling the smaller Barriga. The referee did not seem to mind. He gave Zhakypov only one point deduction for his wrongdoing and the Kazakh went on to escape with a 17-16 win.
Diaz and Barriga’s efforts were part of a quick, unmerciful but painfully realistic dashing of Filipino Olympic dreams. Shooter Brian Rosario, archers Mark Javier and Rachelle Ann Cabral, judoka Tomohiko Hoshina, swimmers Jessie Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi also could not get into the next round of their competitions. Only BMX rider Danny Caluag and track and field bets Marestella Torres and Rene Herrera are left in the quadrennial games to carry the Philippine team. Even they will find the competition stiff and unforgiving as every country wants to bring home an Olympic medal.
After the Games, we will again hear the usual postmortems that we have learned many lessons from another Olympics. We were realistic yet hopeful going to London with a lean team of 11, with maybe a few chances to make it in some sports. But the painful truth is that the competition is at such a high level and our best effort can fall short against strong opponents.
The most obvious we have to contend with is that we need more athletes in many more disciplines to increase our chances for Olympic podium finishes. We need to get our athletes participating in competition beyond the SEA Games and to strengthen our Asian Games and world championship bids.
Aspiring to dominate the SEA Games and being the top gold medal collector means nothing unless the performances of winners come close to world and Olympic standards. It’s a good feeling to win the overall title but SEA Games achievements fall short of Olympic times, distances or quality.
We may not be able to have medal winners by the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games but it would surely be inspirational to see more Filipino athletes getting more chances. Officials don’t have to remind us of how brave and gutsy Filipino athletes are. We can see that for ourselves when we watch the Olympics on TV every four years. We just want to cheer for more of them.