A GOLD medal given to the first placer in a sporting competition is not made of all gold.
They say it has some gold with some other element. The image of a winner biting the gold medal is for photo moments and also to show the medal is solid and not made of plastic. That was what some news reports on the ongoing 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games said about the gold.
But what really is the value of a gold medal?
The Cebu City Government has the opportunity now to show the real meaning of gold.
Among the stars of the SEA Games are Margielyn Didal and Daniel Ledermann, both from Cebu, who won gold medals in the skateboarding events. As of Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2019, the Philippines attained its best-ever showing in the SEA Games with a total of 285 medals: 112 gold, 86 silver and 87 bronze. The Games end tomorrow, Wednesday, Dec. 11.
Following the win of Didal and Ledermann, it makes sense for skateboarders in Cebu to remind the Cebu City Government to fulfill its promise of a skate park for them to play and practice and, perhaps, be like the two gold medalists in the future.
It was a year ago, in early December last year, when City officials broke ground at the skate park site and announced that construction would start soon. No skate park materialized. The design was said to be not safe and not one that Didal would use. The budget lacked P10 million even after the promised donation of Minnie Osmeña, sister of former mayor Tomas Osmeña, of P5 million.
Last Oct. 22, before Didal and Ledermann got their SEA Games golds, a letter from Common Ground Skate Lifestyle Store Inc. representative Kaz Onozawa and Cebu City community representative Peter Lindgreen was sent to the City Council asking for a chance to speak with City officials on a temporary site for the park.
The letter said, “We would like to request for a dialogue with you (Mayor Edgardo Labella) and the concerned public officials and agencies to explore other temporary sites that may be suitable for the designation of an area for skateboarding activities until we all come up with a better plan that will benefit the government, the people of Cebu City and the community altogether.”
The group said they understood the project was delayed because the original proposed area for the skate park at the back of Fort San Pedro is within a heritage zone. The question begging for an answer is why that area was identified in the first place.
Now is the right time for the City Government to revive the skate park plan and make sure the project will happen.
The purpose of competitions like the SEA Games is to recognize great achievement in a particular sport and to popularize the sport. The skate park will turn the medals of Didal and Ledermann into pure gold, meaningful to them and to others.