Prepare to win in next Olympics—Sen. Pangilinan

Senator Francis Pangilinan: Why did we fail?

MANILA, Philippines—After the Philippines failed to win a single medal in the just concluded 2012 Olympics in London, Senator Francis Pangilinan on Tuesday called for a review of the rules of the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

“Not since 1996 have we won any medal in the Olympics. We should review the efforts of the PSC and POC and make sure that they are efficient and effective. There could be some things that we fail to implement, and things we are taking for granted. Let us do this for the sake of our athletes,” Pangilinan said in a statement.

“Representing the country is a huge undertaking. We must prepare our athletes for the pressure of competing on a global scale and do all that we can to provide them the necessary tools and skills to ensure victory,” Pangilinan said,

adding that sending athletes to compete internationally is similar to sending diplomats to foreign countries.

“There are certain minimum standards that we must always strive to achieve if we want the rest of the world to take us seriously in sports,” he said.

Pangilinan called on the government to provide athletes competing in the Olympics the” tools to ensure victory in the next campaign.”

The Philippines failed to garner any medal during the latest Olympics. The last Filipino athlete to get an Olympic medal was Mansueto Velasco, who won a silver medal for the men’s light flyweight division in boxing in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

United States came out as the top winner of the 2012 Olympics winning a total of 104 medals, followed by the People’s Republic of China with 88 medals and host Great Britain with 65 medals.