Philippines Bags Its First Gold Medal in the Olympics [In Retrospect]

Hidilyn Diaz scored the breakthrough as she edged her opponent from China in a neck and neck battle in the Women's Weightlifting 55 kg division. Diaz also broke the Olympic Record in the Snatch and Jerk Event and Overall Points. It was a momentous occasion as the Philippines has never won a Gold Medal in Olympic history.

Sure there were could have beens but it does not count. There was a filipina diver who trained with her american coach but they married before the Olympic. When she won two Gold Medals it was counted to the USA tally. There was also Arianne Cerdeña who won the Gold Medal in Women's Bowling which was an exhibition sport so it does not count. So Hidilyn Diaz' success somewhat made up for our frustrations.

Speaking of frustrations, we have yet to win that elusive Gold Medal in Boxing. Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio came so close that their Silver Medals were bitter-sweet. There was also disappointment in Eumir Marcial's Bronze Medal finish. He was probably the most bemedalled amateur boxer in Philippine Boxing internationally. However our hopes are high that Coach Ronald Chavez will continue to train our boxers and discover new talents. He was a talented boxer, a product of then Mayor Mel Lopez and his ABAP Go For Gold. We won 8 boxing Gold Medals in the SEA Games and 3 Gold Medals in the Asian Games. Onyok Velasco won a Silver Medal and his brother Roel Velasco won a Bronze Medal. Boxing is probably the only martial arts we can excel at the world level as Judo and Taekwondo have advanced techniques in other countries. Looking at other South East Asian nations, they won Olympic Golds in Swimming and Badminton. We can train our swimmers in the states like Joseph Schooling of Singapore, who edged Michael Phelps for the Gold Medal, and Badminton is or was Indonesia's bread and butter in the Olympic Gold. When it comes to track and field like running, we have to excel first in Asia and then the world. Like EJ Obiena who finished 7th in Men's Pole Vault. Tokyo was Hidilyn Diaz' 4th Olympics. Our athletes should do their best to outdo their previous records. Same goes for Margielyn Didal who qualified for the finals of Skateboarding. In Rowing, Chris Nievarez introduced us to Single Sculls. Its a different technique than that of Dragon Boat Racing where we excel. But rowing is rowing, and paddling is paddling. We can excel here. So thats it at the moment. I am juggling speaking and writing at the same time. If you have questions how to activate Google Adsense on your blogs, let me know. Basically book reviewers like you and me can earn money from blogspot ads. Until then.