Editorial: Celebrating Didal’s feat

Editorial cartoon by Josua S. Cabrera
Editorial cartoon by Josua S. Cabrera

TIME lists yearly its “25 Most Influential Teens” and for this year the list includes Asian Games gold medalist Margielyn Didal, the Cebuana skateboarder. Time considers the following in including any of the world’s teenager in the list: “accolades across numerous fields, global impact through social media and overall ability to drive news.”

Didal is in an elite field that includes singer Lorde and Hollywood young star Millie Bobby Brow, which makes her feat admirable. That feat is anchored first and foremost on her surprise gold medal win in the recent Asian Games, which she achieved through sheer talent and determination to make it despite all the odds.

And it is in this aspect that we view Didal’s run of recognition. Her feat stood out only because the country’s sports program is so mediocre every medal win in the Asian Games was celebrated, the biggest celebration being a gold medal win. Had our sports program been a tad better, Didal’s gold medal would have only been one among the many. And then this: skateboarding was not a popular sports discipline before Didal.

So we continue to celebrate Didal’s triumph and her being included in Time’s “25 Most Influential Teens” this year but we long for the day when feats like Didal’s Asian Games triumph would no longer be that celebrated because getting gold medals in the Asian Games would not be as rare an achievement and would not be as difficult to get as it is now.

Because that would mean that by then our sports officials and the country’s leadership would have already straightened out their acts and solved the ills that have been plaguing our sports program for decades already. Among those ills is obviously the politicking that has permeated every endeavor in the country.

Consider: before Didal’s win skateboarders in Cebu were a neglected lot but after her win Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña suddenly became friendly to skateboarders and he, using government money, and his sister Minnie, using private funds, are even initiating the construction of a skate park here.

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