Time to sing paeans.
It should be for all. Winners, losers, they all deserve praise.
Olympics golden girl Hidilyn Diaz, silver seizers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, and bronze bagger Eumir Marcial—all yours to savor the glory.
Some of your 15 teammates stumbled but not after producing some wonders worthy of praise, too, as they nearly made medal marks of their own: Gymnast finalist Carlos Yulo, pole vault finalist EJ Obiena, rower standout Cris Nievarez, crowd darling skateboarder Margielyn Didal and Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan creating ripples in women’s golf.
Boxer Irish Magno and golfer Juvic Pagunsan may have faltered in the long haul, but their early hot starts uplifted spirits.
To our luckless losers in swimming, running, judo, shooting and taekwondo, despair not. Each of you was one of 109 million Filipinos on this planet. By just being in the Olympics was a personal triumph in itself. It is a badge of honor etched in your chest forever.
Your cheerers at home will be as proud, too, of your exploits and, yes, even your missteps. They include your parents and family. Their sacrifices are as enormous as yours. Heroes outside of the arena, they are your indefatigable prayer warriors.
Your coaches and all those in your team, they are as eminent as you. As winners climbing the podium, remember that they pushed you to be up there unerringly—with equal determination, dedication and discipline.
And who could forget your supporters that were total strangers but who cared simply because they believed in you? MVP, the Ayalas, ICTSI’s Pocholo Razon, San Miguel’s RSA and many more who are too shy to come forward. They are patriots beyond compare.
May I also cite our sports officials like Olympics chief Bambol Tolentino and government’s sports guru Butch Ramirez for their stupendous efforts in procuring government money for our Olympians’ training and preparation. The P2.7 billion budget for the Olympics mission—thanks mainly to Butch—did magic in Tokyo 2020. We now bask in the gleam of the greatest performance of a Philippine team after 97 years of Olympics participation.
In the end, we are all winners because our taxes immensely helped produce a magnificent Olympics finish like no other. Mabuhay!