Thursday, September 13, 2007 Bemedalled swimmers earn Milo citations
AFTER the first two days of competition, the next thing on the checklist of the tournament managers of the different events of the 12th Milo Little Olympics, is the excruciating process of choosing the most outstanding athletes (MOA).
This becomes a daunting task because managers become subjects of scrutiny and are sometimes accused of being biased if their choices don’t bode well with some quarters.
For some events, choosing the MOA is as easy as looking for the athlete with the most number of medals. For some events, it’s not as easy.
It is a good thing, then ,that Milo Olympics organizers had come up with a criteria to prevent any questions. Part of the criteria is performance and skills, discipline and sportsmanship.
In the first half of the sports festival, the University of Cebu is well on its way to defending yet another title and as early as now, UC already has an athlete in the MOA list.
Paula Abigail Vega, who dominated the Cebu City Sports Center Aquatic center was named the best athlete in the secondary division for winning three gold medals in the 400 meter, 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke, a silver in the 50m freestyle and bronze in the 400m individual medley.
Another remarkable swimmer is 10-year-old Ana Paraiso of Silliman University, who was named the swimming MOA for the elementary division.
Paraiso single-handedly paced her team to top the elementary division as she won all six golds for SU.
It was a close call for Vega, who was tied in the medal tally with another swimmer from Abellana National School. But based on the criteria, Vega had the edge.
While the number of medals are used as the basis for the swimming MOA, it’s a different story in taekwondo
Jeah Maglasang of Don Vicente Rama Memorial Elementary School is the MOA for elementary, while Lord Jay Guia of Abellana National School is the best athlete in the high school class.
“We based our selection on fighting skills and how he or she got to the finals and also the jins’ performances during the finals and a big plus would be their attitude,” said tournament head Rene Brojan. (MCB)
