THE Olympics is only a week away. From July 23 to August 9, we will again witness the summer sports event, albeit postponed by the Covid-19 crisis.
For the 2021 edition, we will be cheering for our 19 Filipino athletes as they continue the country’s quest for our first Olympic gold medal.
Since our first participation in the 1924 Paris Olympics, we already have three silver medals and seven bronzes to date.
Heading the Filipino athlete delegation is a weightlifter and Rio 2016 silver medalist, Hidilyn Diaz. Here is the complete list of our athletes: EJ Obiena (Athletics, Pole Vault), Carlos Yulo (Gymnastics), Eumir Marcial, Irish Magno, Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam (Boxing), Cris Nieveraz (Rowing), Kurt Barbosa (Taekwondo) Margielyn Didal (Skateboarding), Elreen Ando (Weightlifting), Jayson Valdez (Shooting), Juvic Pagunsan (Golf), Kristina Knott (Athletics, 200m), Kiyomi Watanabe (Judo), Bianca Pagdanganan, Yuka Saso (Golf), Remedy Rule, Luke Gebbie (Swimming).
Among them is the hopeful gold medal winner for the country.
With their intensive training and international exposure, we are as optimistic as the PSC that we can finally grab our Olympic gold. The PSC has extended its all-out support for these athletes. The chairman himself, William “Butch” Ramirez, and his Chief of Staff, Marc Velasco, will be flying to Tokyo with the delegation.
President Rodrigo Duterte himself is invited to watch the games. Incidentally, the Sona scheduled on July 26 may prevent him from going. It is the last Sona of the president. We are all eager to listen to what he has planned for his final year in office, including any plans for sports resumption as we recover from this pandemic.
We have won silver and bronzes, and it is never hard to believe that we can finally achieve Olympic gold.
The road to Olympic gold starts anew.
Notes from the sidelines:
The NBA Finals have been going the way of CP3, and the Suns up 2-0 against Giannis and the Bucks.
Withmy #Bucksin6 prediction, hopefully, it goes 2-1 when this piece comes out.
Another exciting development is the seeming “exodus” of top basketball players to Japan. Thirdy Ravena opened the doors for fellow basketballers to play internationally. His brother Keifer and the Gomez-de Liano’s are already under contract, with others reportedly being eyed to play as well.
The recent Gilas stint also helped in the “scouting” of our players by the Japanese league — more on this in next week’s piece.
Lastly, we applaud all vaccination hubs and volunteers who have helped the city in inoculating Davao city’s A4 sector.
“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless” --- Sherry Anderson