Doble: Just a dream

SOME dreams come true. Most do not.

Our Olympic hopefuls and sports officials may be ecstatic of being in London 2012 for the quadrennial games. All of us are always awed by the opening ceremonies of every Olympic Games. But after that lavish spectacle, what?

It is no longer a joke that after several days, the Philippine athletes will be tourists in the Olympic Village. We still pray that one of them will end up with a medal so that our PHL contingent will not go home "pusoy."

If you listen to Manny Pacquiao asking why only one boxer in the Games, don't you have second thoughts.

There must be something wrong how we ran the sports program all over the country. The enormous amount of incentives dangled by Manny V. Pangilinan for future champions never reached its would-be recipients in boxing. Where did our future heroes go?

What happened to the high-tech training methods and equipment for every sport? Why did our national boxers, funded by Philippine Sports Commission and the rest of generous sponsors, never reached their destination?

We are not short of sports leaders. There are plenty of warring factions who think they can do miracles.

The PSC can always hire or import coaches and technologies abroad just to improve the records of our subsidized athletes. We even "naturalized" those with Filipino lineage just to power up our domestic products.

Is the quest for an Olympic Gold perpetually remains a dream? Maybe not, but to be realistic, look back to our statistics.

After Onyok Velasco and Anthony Villanueva who brought home Olympic boxing silver medals, we just didn't make the grade. The SEABA is a breeze. The SEA Games a little difficult as underdog neighbors start to overtake us in the medal standings.

The Asian Games a much uphill climb as Japan and other powerhouse countries show who the bosses are. So what is there left for us to take?

Unless our cagers and the bright coaches find ways to upend China and South Korea, there is not much for SBP or the undying BAP to talk about. If sports associations keep arguing, debating and fighting who will take the top spot and protect those athletes closest to them, there is no hope for Filipino athletes in the next Olympics.

We can win a gold - in our dreams.

You may never see another RP basketball team reach the Olympics as the 1972 squad did in Munich, Germany.