Amid viral golf uniform row, fans seek accountability

Philippines’ Dottie Ardina competes in round 1 of the women’s golf individual stroke play of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, south-west of Paris on August 7, 2024. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)

A growing discontent over the mishandling of uniforms of the national golf team in the Paris Olympics has snowballed into demands for accountability coming from sports fans, with some pointing to the controversy as the reason why the country keeps losing talent to other countries.

A video posted by the mother of golfer Dottie Ardina has gone viral as Team Philippines, which has one of the smaller delegations in these Games, did not look properly dressed for action at Le Golf National, which was hosting the final round of the 72-hole women’s golf championship at press time on Saturday (Manila time).

Ardina and Bianca Pagdanganan are the country’s golf bets in this year’s Summer Games.

“I wish all of us had uniforms,” Ardina said in Filipino in the video. “We (Pagdanganan and Ardina) are the only ones without [uniforms]. We needed to buy T-shirts. My God, what kind of an Olympics [participation] is this?”

The rage that followed on social media was instant, with the Philippine Olympic Committee hosing down the heat with a bit of clarification.

Held by customs

“Adidas, Paris Olympics official apparel sponsor of the Philippine delegation, sent an initial set of apparel for the golf team prior the start of the competition for approval of the IOC (International Olympic Committee),” the statement, released on Saturday, said. “Unfortunately, it was disapproved, hence, the immediate change of golf apparel was sent a week prior to the opening.”

“Several boxes of apparel containing competition gear were sent through courier directly to Paris. However, the French customs held the package carrying the competition gear and despite the best efforts made by the officials, the gear was not released in time.”

Ardina took videos of herself trying to patch the Philippine flag on her chest with double adhesive tape, expressing disappointment over the fiasco.

“Shout-out to those who [were supposed] to give us our uniforms; where did [the uniforms go?” Ardina said. “There are just two of us [in the Philippine golf team], we are only 22 [athletes representing the Philippines in total] and yet the uniforms are not complete.”

Medal hopes

Carlos Yulo opened the country’s eyes to his sport last week by winning the floor exercise and vault golds of artistic gymnastics. And after the Filipino boxers started falling by the wayside just days after that Yulo feat, the last hopes of another medal were pinned on Pagdanganan and Ardina.

But the late attention shone a light on the controversy.

Netizens mostly blamed the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) for the brouhaha, a similar thing first happening in Tokyo 2020 when Juvic Pagunsan and Yuka Saso played without uniforms.

The NGAP had even released a video of its secretary general Bones Floro to “just focus on the golf,” which all the more angered many casual fans of the game.

It has since been taken down.

“It’s very sad seeing these athletes doing their best to give our country an Olympic medal, but hey, they received little to no support from our government (sad face emoji). Imagine having no official uniform while playing golf and they are the ones buying their own and just attaching the PH flag with a double adhesive tape (sad face emoji). What a shame!”

“Now we understand why Yuka Saso chose the Japanese flag instead of competing for the Philippines,” wrote Jerico Jose on Facebook.

OThe NGAP has yet to respond to the issue, although sources said officials have been trying to get Ardina to take down the video. But the video remains online