It's a shame as these are sports whit might actually win us gold medals, if they were part of the program. Word has it, the dragon boat racing might be included at the Rio Olympics 2016, while efforts to bring rugby union (which was dropped in 1924) back to the Olympic stadium have been incessant and so, who knows? Until then, we keep working.
You read it correctly—in 1972, 1988 and 1992—PH became the first tropical country to ever compete in the Winter Games, vying for medals in the alpine skiing and luge events.
Technically, no one. But if you'd consider bloodline, then 1948 Team USA's Victoria Manalo Draves, whose mother was English and father a Filipino, would count. The late springboard and platform diver won two golds in London that year, which entitles us to more than half of one medal, if you do the math.
It seems pugilistic pride runs in two families: In 1932 Jose Villanueva bagged a bronze, while his son Anthony, seized a silver in 1964. Later in 1992, Roel Velasco won a bronze, then his younger brother Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco upstaged him with a silver medal in '96.
After Rogelio Fortaleza served as a boxing referee at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Pangasinan-born Dante de Castro will get his turn in London, after thorough evaluation by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). He will become one of 35 referee-judges to oversee the bouts this year.
The Philippines remains the country with the most medals without a gold. Among six other countries that have joined the Olympics at least 19 times, PH is the only one without a gold.
Between 1936 to 1972, the Philippines would mop the floor with the likes of Spain, China and Argentina in the Olympic stage. Nevertheless, the closest that the Philippine Team ever got to winning a medal was in 1936, when they placed 5th overall after losing to USA, who were the eventual gold medalists.
In 1972, the country was represented by a 53-strong team in 11 different sports, which did not result to any medal taken home, unfortunately. Today, we are led by only 11 athletes (in eight sports), all hoping to finally break our Olympic medal drought since 1996 (courtesy of light-flyweight boxer Onyok's silver). Let it be known that in 1996, we only had 12 representatives and in 1932,
we had eight and won three bronze medals.
And just as history suggests, still our biggest hope this year lies in the hands of a boxer—Mark Anthony Barriga, who will be our lone athlete for the said sport in the light-flyweight event.
