After a delay of one year, the Tokyo Olympic Games are finally here. The much awaited international competition is set to start on July 23 and it will last until August 8.
The Philippines, still looking for its first gold Olympic medal in 97 years, will be represented by 19 athletes, each tasked to end the country's thirst for gold.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Hidilyn Diaz, 30, will represent the Philippines in weightlifting. Diaz made history during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro when she became the first Filipino woman to win a silver medal in the Olympics. That was also the first medal the Philippines had won since Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco Jr. bagged the gold in Atlanta in 1996. This is the fourth straight Olympic appearance for Diaz who will compete in the 55-kg class.
Alongside Diaz is Elreen Ando, 22, the Cebu native who is competing in the 64-kg class.
Ando shone bright during the 2021 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Uzbekistan where she bagged two silver medals and a bronze that sealed her participation in Tokyo.
ATHLETICS
EJ Obiena, 25, the first Filipino to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, is ranked No. 6 in world pole vault rankings. This year, he made the podium 10 times in 13 competitions abroad. That enabled him to climb the ladder with 1,343 points and eclipse the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist in Brazilian Thiago Braz, who is at No. 7 in the world rankings with 1,340 markers. Obiena owns the
Philippine record of 5.86 meters indoors and 5.87 meters outdoors.
Kristina Knott, 25, is the national record holder for the women's 200 meters. Knott proved her worth during the 30th Southeast Asian Games in 2019 where she bagged four medals---two golds in the 4x100m mixed relay and 200m and two silvers in the 100m and 4x100m relay events.
SWIMMING
Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule, both 24, will represent the country in the aquatics events. Gebbie bagged the silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay and a bronze in the 50m freestyle event while Rule won two silvers in the 200m butterfly and 4x100m butterfly and two bronze medals in 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay events at the 2019 SEA Games. Rule and Gebbie garnered the most points amongst Filipino swimmers, thereby earning slots for the Tokyo Games.
Rule is to compete in the women's 200 meter butterfly and the 200m freestyle events, while Gebbie in the men's 100m and 50m freestyle events.
GOLF
Yuka Saso, 20, is one of the favorites to win the gold in Tokyo after having won the prestigious US Women's Open golf championship last June. Saso is currently ranked No. 8 in the world. She also won two gold medals in the 2018 Asian Games.
Bianca Pagdanganan will also represent the country in women's golf. The 23 year old is ranked No. 43 in the world and also a gold medal winner in the 2018 Asian Games.
Juvic Pagunsan, the most senior in the Philippine team at 43, will compete in men's golf. Pagunsan recently topped the 2021 Mizuno Open to claim his first Japan Golf Tour title. He made the cut after finishing inside the 60-player Olympic field at No. 50.
GYMNASTICS
Carlos Yulo, 21, won the gold medal in men's floor exercise at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany making him the first Southeast Asian male to conquer the world event. He also bagged two gold and five silver medals during the 2019 SEA Games making him the most bemedaled Filipino in the games. He is among the favorites to win the gold in Tokyo.
BOXING
Eumir Marcial, 25, won gold medals in the 2011 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan and the 2020 Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament in Amman, Jordan. He was also named Best Asia Youth Boxer of the Year in 2014, won three gold medals in the SEA Games and bagged silver medals in the 2016 ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships and 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships.
Fighting in the flyweight division in Tokyo is 22-year-old Carlo Paalam. He joined the Philippine team in 2013 and won gold medals in the 2017 ASTANA/President's Cup in Kazakhstan and 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
For the first time, the Philippines will be fielding entries in women's boxing. They are featherweight Nesthy Petecio and flyweight Irish Magno.
The 29-year-old Petecio made a name for herself during the 2007 Smart National Youth and Women's Open Boxing Championships where she won the gold medal in the 50 kg women's category. She also won the gold medal in the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia and ended the year with another gold medal performance in the 2019 SEA Games.
Magno, 29, surprised everyone when she became the first boxer from the Philippines to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics via the Asia/Oceania qualifiers. She won her first gold in the international scene in the 2012 Taipei Open. She also claimed the silver medal in the 2019 SEA Games, losing to heavy favorite Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam.
SKATEBOARDING
Margielyn Didal, 22, is another medal favorite in the Olympiad. She qualified for Tokyo after being included in the Women's Street Top 13 out of 20 of the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings. Ranked No. 17 in the world, Didal also placed 17th when she competed in the 2021 World Championship in Italy. She was also hailed as Women's Asia Skater of the Year in 2020 and was included in the list of Forbes Asia "30 under 30" in 2020 and TIME's 25 Most Influential Teens in 2018. Skateboarding will be making its debut in the biggest global sports event.
JUDO
Kiyomi Watanabe, 24, is making her Olympic debut in her hometown Japan. The Filipino-Japanese will enter Tokyo ranked No. 41 in the world. Watanabe, a four-time SEA Games gold medalist, gained an Olympic berth via continental quota in the women's 63-kilogram division. Along with boxer Eumir Marcial, she has been chosen as the Philippine flag bearer at the opening ceremony on Friday.
TAEKWONDO
Kurt Barbosa, 22, qualified to the Olympics after winning his semifinal match at the 2021 Asian Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament in Amman, Jordan The lone Filipino jin in the Philippine team clinched a berth in dramatic fashion after a come-from-behind win against Zaid Al-Halawani of Jordan, 50-49, in the semifinal match. Barbosa is ranked No. 151 in the world but with only 16 athletes competing in his field, anything can happen.
ROWING
Cris Nievarez, 21, topped the men's singles sculls repechage during the 2021 Asia Oceania Continental Qualification Regatta in Tokyo, Japan to gain entry in the Olympics. The 21-year-old SEA Games gold medalist will be the first Filipino to see action in Tokyo. clocked in eight minutes and 11.40 seconds.
SHOOTING
Jason Valdez, 25, qualified for the Games after he received a slot in the men's 10-meter air rifle event via continental quota of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF). He was the last to get the call from ISSF after making the minimum qualifying scores (MQS) he got in the World Cup and Asian qualifying tournaments early this year. Valdez is ranked No. 110 in the world.
Since 1924, the first time the Philippines joined the Olympics, the country has collected three silver and seven bronze medals. The last time the Olympics was held, in Rio in 2016, the Philippines won only one silver medal courtesy of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz. This time in Tokyo, the Philippines is aiming for multiple medals, including its first ever gold medal in the Olympics.
Quest for Olympic gold begins for 19 Filipino athletes - The Manila Times
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