Pinoys win 48 golds, land 4th in Games

by Jose Ronel Benitez Jr.

Forty gold medals and respect. That was what Filipino athletes aimed at when they saw action in the 22nd Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.

The Filipino athletes, on the penultimate day, surpassed the target and exceeded expectations with plenty to spare. They won 48 golds, landing fourth behind host Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. That was quite an improvement from the disappointing fifth place finish with 31 golds in Kuala Lumpur two years ago, thanks to veteran campaigners who held their ground and new faces who lived up to their billings.

Questions may be raised on the return of investment, though, with over P100 million spent in preparation and more in the delegation’s actual participation in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Lerma Bualuitan registers 6.21 meters, far below her personal best, but enough to clinch the gold in the women’s long jump.

Were 48 golds and fourth place really worth it? Cheers and laughter may temporarily cloud the real score while wine and roast were served in celebration of what sports officials call “a big success.”

But there are bigger things to come and bigger amounts to spend as Pinoys go for the top spot when Manila SEA Games 2005 comes around. The Games were last held here in 1991. At the time the Philippines was edged out from the overall crown by Thailand by a single gold, although it reined supreme in basketball.

In the recently concluded SEA Games, basketball-mad Philippines kept its grips on the regional title. Local sports officials had expected the country to keep its supremacy on the hard court. And they were proven right when a group of college players won what most call “the Filipinos’ most coveted gold.”

University of the East’s James Yap was among the players who did not even see action in pre-SEA Games tournaments when their teams in the UAAP and NCAA refused to lend their services to the national squad.

Still, he and his fellow collegiate stars rose to the occasion, when they made a 5-0 sweep of the tourney, thus retaining the gold that a Romel Adducul-led group of pros claimed in 2001.

In judo, John Baylon, who carved his name on the record books four years ago, remained one of the most dominant figures. An Airman 2nd Class in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, he ruled the 81-kg division for
the sixth straight time.

Rene Herrera of the Philippines sets the pace while compatriot Eduardo Buenavista lags behind in fourth in the 3,000-m steeplechase.

From the very start, sports officials dared not hold their hopes high in aquatics, but as it turned out it was among the top contributors to the country’s total medal haul. Its entries delivered big, with Miguel Mendoza and Miguel Molina snapping up a gold medal in swimming, thus ending the drought in that event that dated back to Jakarta 1997. In diving, the entries earned two additional golds.

Richard Gomez usually saves emotional displays for films. This time the movie and television idol, in battle-mode when entering the fencing arena, dissolved into tears after bagging his first gold medal. It was no solo effort, with the gilt being awarded to the whole epee team that consisted, in addition to Gomez, of Wilfredo Vizcayno, Avelino Victorino and reserve Almario Vizcayno. It was enough for the actor, though, who had searched for the precious but elusive gold for years.

“Hindi mapigilan, masyadong overpowering ang feeling,” Gomez says as he breaks down.

It was Grandmaster Mark Paragua who shone the brightest in the Games, winning an individual gold and helping the RP chess team bag two more. He thus emerged the Philippines’ most bemedalled athlete from the regional competition.

A veteran of international tournaments, Paragua blitzed his way to the top of the individual rapid chess title and, alongside his more illustrious peers, contributed immensely in clinching the team titles in a sport that was just making its debut in the meet.

Eugene Torre, Asia’s first GM, and fellow GMs Joey Antonio and Bong Villamayor, joined Paragua in the successful team effort in the traditional chess competition.

The 19-year-old Paragua listed among his victims local bet GM Dao Thien Hai in the rapid event. On the other hand, Torre, the most experienced member of the team, held his own against the region’s specialists of the long game but fell short and settled for the individual bronze.

Lerma Bulauitan-Gabito kept her place in front of the line in women’s long jump.

It was not roses all the way. Sydney Olympics veteran Roberto Cruz failed to bag what could have been his sixth straight taekwondo gold medal and had to settle for the bronze.

A paraglider carries the Philippine flag during the closing ceremonies of the 22nd SEA Games in Vietnam. The Philippines will host the SEA Games in 2005.

Efren “Bata” Reyes, former world 9-ball champion and winner of a snooker event in the 1991 meet, dealt the biggest disappointment. He fell short of the gold and had to settle for a measly two-bronze performance in the one-cushion carom and individual 9-ball event.

The whole RP team came up one gold short of its projected nine-gold haul, no thanks to the dismal performance by the diminutive Eduardo Buenavista and other top bets.

Two years ago, Buenavista won two golds. He thus eyed three gold medals in the SEA Games, but he came up with just one this time. He crossed the finish line first in the 10,000 meters, but trailed in fourth place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. In the 5,000 meters, he had to console himself with the silver, almost three seconds behind the Thai entry.

Luckily, newcomer Rene Herrera took up the cudgels to save the gold for the Philippines. Some critics say Buenavista’s dismal harvest was the result of overconfidence. Others claim he simply overextended himself, training and participating in three middle distance track events. They observe that even triple Olympic gold winner Marion Jones of the US limited herself to and focused on distances where she could “realistically” expect to win, the sprint double and the relay.

Still, Track and Field Association chief Go Teng Kok thinks the results are satisfactory.

The entire RP contingent bagged 54 silvers, which local sports officials fondly and defensively call “near golds,” and 75 bronzes.

In sports no one usually remembers who finished second, much less the fourth placers. But Philippine sports officials do, at least when they think of the Athens Olympics in 2004 and Manila SEA Games in 2005.

In these two competitions they expect the athletes to leap from second, third, and fourth to top, and erase the stigma of being bridesmaids to the Thais the last time the competition was held in the country.

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