Go, Thank You : For a band of gold medal winners

KUALA LUMPUR (Via Globe Telecoms) – When athletics chief Go Teng Kok bragged that his wards would win seven to 12 gold medals here, all the tongues in town started to wag.

For Go, who was better off ousting presidents of national sports associations (NSAs) back home and playing chess with sportswriters, was known to be remiss in his own job as president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa).

For the record, since the 1991 SEA Games when the Philippines earned a record 8-8-7 (gold-silver-bronze) medals, athletics went on the decline, winning 6-6-7 in 1993, 5-1-5 in 1995, 3-4-3 in 1997 and 1-6-5 in 1999.

At the end of the athletics competition in the 21st Southeast Asian Games Sunday, Go’s athletes won 8-11-4, and no less than First Gentleman Juan Miguel Arroyo extended his arms to congratulate him for making athletics the country’s winningest sport in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

"We could have made it nine yesterday if my boys in the marathon heeded my advice," said Go, half-jokingly. "If Roy Vence and Allan Ballester jumped to the finish line at the same time, we could have won two golds, not just one."

Vence and Ballester made it 1-2 for the Philippines in the men’s marathon while Cristable Martes won the women’s side at the conclusion of athletic competitions Sunday morning.

Except for Elma Muros, who at 34 is retiring from the sport, the rest of Go’s stable are new generation athletes, who, he boasts, will be up to Asian standard within the next four years.

In previous SEA Games, there were no stars after Lydia de Vega and Elma Muros. It took 14 years before an heir to record holder Isidro del Prado appeared, and it was Del Prado himself who nurtured the new athlete, Ernie Candelario, to championship mold. Candelario ruled the 400m which Del Prado won last for the Philippines in 1987.

Muros, who won a record eight golds in the long jump since 1983, has finally turned over the baton to her understudy, Lerma Bulauitan, a cinch to win the gold in the event here with a leap over a distance of 6.43 until a Vietnamese came out with a surprise jump of 6.46m on her sixth and last attempt.

Steeplechase SEA Games record holder Hector Begeo, who last won in 1995 before he retired, has also found a new winner in 22-year-old Eduardo Buenavista, who was this year’s lone double gold medalist by winning the steeplechase and 5,000m run in a new SEAG record record.

"Give him two years and he will be ready for the Asian Games," said coach Mario Castro.

"We have expected more wins, but we had some injuries which cost us some golds," Go said, referring to Joebert Delicano, who missed the gold in the long jump because of a groin injury, Bulauitan’s miss in the long jump and the failed attempt by the 4x400 relay team.

"They may call me boastful, but I am doing my job. Hindi ako tulad ng ibang NSAs na ingay nang ingay, pagdating dito sa SEA Games wala naman pala silang mai-deliver na gold," he said during a breakfast meeting attended by Arroyo, Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Tuason and commissioners Cynthia Carrion and Richie Garcia.

"Now I can retire. I have achieved what I promised," said Go.

Whether he will make good his word or not is another story.