By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
Our neighbors Vietnam and Singapore got out of the list of countries with no Olympic gold medals ever in the Rio Janeiro Olympics – Vietnam from shooting and Singapore from swimming. Meantime, we, with our 100M population, must continue to live with our ignoble distinction of being the second most populous country in the world with no gold medal in the Olympics the champion in the category being Bangladesh with its 156M population.
In our case, the reason is not lack of talent because we also hold the distinction of being the country with the most medals without a gold. The only problem with us is we are looking for sports achievement in the wrong places. Our sports patrons like Manny Pangilinan pour their money into the futile attempt to regain our place in international basketball 50 years ago and likewise fund the impossible dream of climbing up the world ranking in world football on the back of half Filipinos from around the world. The Azkals are now at 134 and at the rate they are going, we may get within striking distance in a century. It does not occur to these silly sports patrons that if these half-breeds in the Azkals and Gilas Pilipinas are any good, they would not come home and play here. They would be in the professional leagues or the national teams of the country they were born in.
The pathetic showing of the Gilas Pilipinas in the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament where it should not have been entered at all due to the impossibility of the odds has not cured the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) of the illusion that the Philippines could go somewhere in world basketball. The last I heard is that they would now work out for the naturalization of more foreign basketball players to boost the chances of the Gilas Pilipinas in international campaigns.
Come to think of it, granting that the SBP succeeds in getting permission from the FIBA to have more naturalized players in the national team and we do well in international tournaments thenceforth, what Filipino in his right mind would celebrate the triumphs knowing that it was won by Afro-Americans and not by their compatriots?
I do not know where these people insisting we have a chance in Olympics basketball learned their logic. They could not figure out that if the US Dream Team which is composed of the best in the National Basketball Association (NBA) is barely winning in Rio de Janeiro, how would the Gilas Pilipinas with one or even three NBA ordinary players fare there?
Including Hidilyn Diaz‘s, we now have three Olympics silvers which means that just a little more push and we would achieve what has eluded us for 21 Olympic Games. If the athletes in the sports where we stand a chance most specifically boxing would get more support for their training and preparations so that when they see action in the Olympics, they will be in the best shape possible, our chances of finally snaring gold will be dramatically improved. What I am trying to say is if our local sport patrons will just do the sensible and patriotic and devote the millions they are wasting in the wild goose chases in basketball and football to the sports where Filipinos shine, it is possible that we will finally shake off the shameful distinction of having more than a 100M population with no gold medal in the Olympics to show for it in Tokyo come 2020.
If these moneyed sports patrons do not snap out of their fixation with basketball, our role in Olympic sagas will be limited to providing the nanny of the sports hero.
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