EDITORIAL - Middling performance

Congratulations to the Philippine basketball team, which bagged the gold at the recently concluded 21st Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And congratulations to the athletics team, which brought home eight golds – the biggest haul for the Philippine delegation. The rest of the athletes who won the 21 other gold medals, 66 silvers and 67 bronzes also get the nation’s applause.

As for the sports officials who were responsible for the nation’s middling performance in the regional games, the national leadership should consider finding better people. Months before the SEA Games, expectations were already low enough for the Philippine team, chiefly because of squabbling among sports officials. With those tasked to oversee sports development engrossed in turf wars, athletes were left mostly to strive on their own for excellence in their respective fields.

Still, sports officials said they were aiming for 40 golds. Based on this expectation, the final medal standings were a disappointment for Filipinos: 30 golds, with the Philippines being kicked out of fourth place in pencak silat by Vietnam, a relative newcomer in the SEA Games. There’s only a small difference between gold and silver – this was the positive spin that some members of the Philippine delegation put on the country’s performance. There’s some truth to that, but it’s what spells the difference between winner and also-ran, between number one and number four.

Filipinos can’t help wondering what’s wrong with our sports teams. Unlike in the Olympics, Philippine athletes can’t argue that they’re out of their league in the SEA Games. There are no players the size of Michael Jordan or the athletes of China. The Philippine team couldn’t have been distracted by problems at home – Indonesia has worse political turbulence but its athletes placed third in the Games. It couldn’t have been limited funding – Thailand is in the same economic straits as the Philippines, and Vietnam is worse off in this department.

What Philippine athletes need is better training. They need nurturing in a culture of excellence that only professional sports handlers can provide. But will our sports officials ever get their act together? When will we have a sports program worthy of respect? Winning isn’t everything, but we can’t use that forever as an excuse for mediocrity. Instead of aiming for the Olympic goals of faster, higher, stronger performance, we are content to wallow in the middle, even in a regional game.