RP first gold slips away from pugs

Third of a series

The 1960 Rome Olympics welcomed 41 Filipino athletes. Asian sprint queen Mona Sulaiman made it to the quarterfinals of the 100-meter dash then crashed out. Fausto Preysler, Jess Villareal, Francisco Gonzales and Jaime Prieto represented the country in dragon class yachting–a first in Philippine sports history–and finished 24th of 27.

In 1964, the biggest Philippine delegation ever went to the Tokyo Olympics. The contingent was made up of 52 athletes in track and field, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo, shooting, swimming, weightlifting, wrestling and yachting. Excluded were the 12 cagers who played at the pre-Olympic qualifiers in Yokohama and never made it to Tokyo for the tournament proper.

Villanueva ended the medal drought with a silver in boxing.

The 1968 Mexico Olympics brought in 49 Filipino athletes, including 16 basketball players. Again, there were no medalists. Four of the five boxers went out the window after their first bouts. Four wrestlers didn’t win a single match. Two of three weightlifters were disqualified. The cagers wound up 13th of 16, beating Senegal, Morocco and South Korea but losing to Italy, Spain, the US, Panama, Puerto Rico and Yugoslavia.

The hoopsters included Robert Jaworski, Ed Ocampo, Danny Florencio and Jimmy Mariano.

In 1972, tragedy struck the Olympics as terrorists invaded Munich to murder Israeli athletes. For a while, the Philippine government considered pulling out the 51 Filipino athletes in Munich but eventually decided to allow their participation. All four boxers–Vicente Arsenal, Renato Fortaleza, Ricardo Fortaleza and Aquilino Nicolas, Jr.–-were dismissed after their first fights. The country bowed out of Olympic basketball competition in 13th place.

Only 11 athletes competed for the Philippines at the 1976 Montreal Games.

The country joined the Free World boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and reappeared with 19 athletes in Los Angeles four years later. Lightweight boxer Leopoldo Cantancio fell a win short of a bronze. Other 1984 Olympics were swimmers Christine Jacob, Billy Wilson and Jairulla Jaitulla and trackster Elma Muros. In a disgraceful exit, four Filipino cyclists abandoned their Olympic stint and disappeared to stay in the US as illegal aliens.

In 1988, 35 Filipino athletes–including Asia’s fastest woman Lydia de Vega–returned with a single bronze, courtesy of Serrantes, and a gold from an exhibition sport. In 1992, there were 32 Filipino athletes, including two pelota basque players Pablo and Mike Lorenzo who were pitifully massacred in four straight matches in the exhibition sport.

Only 11 Filipinos competed in Atlanta in 1996. They were Muros, Roy Vence, badminton’s wild card entry Weena Lim, equestrienne Denise Yabut Cojuangco, swimmers Ryan Papa and Akiko Thomson and boxers Brin, Reynaldo Galido, Elias Recaido, Virgilio Vicera and Onyok Velasco. Recaido was a win shy of capturing a bronze but Velasco compensated with a silver.

In Sydney, 20 Filipino athletes failed to deliver a medal.

Will the country’s Sweet 16 strike gold in Athens? The hunt for the elusive Olympic gold might just end in the city where the Games began 108 years ago.