Chef de mission: Preparations for YOG 2022 start now

BUENOS AIRES – The third Youth Olympic Games has drawn to a close, and yet the Philippine chef-de-mission already has the drawing board on hand.

“If we’re thinking long term, we have to start now,” said Jonne Go, Canoe Kayak Federation president and chef de mission.

The past 15 days in this tourist-friendly capital have provided a glimpse of the future of Philippine sports, behind the efforts of seven young athletes in six different disciplines.

Kiteboarder Christian Tio won a silver medal for the Philippines while his fellow athletes in archery, fencing, golf, swimming and table tennis won some and lost some before the medal rounds.

Go said sending only seven entries to the Games that offered 241 gold medals to a total of 4,012 athletes from 206 nations is not the way to go.

“I hope we realize that we have a potential in the YOG. The past two YOGs, we have never gone home empty-handed,” she added.

Archer Luis Gabriel Moreno won a gold medal in 2014 in Nanjing, and Tio winning the silver on Argentine soil only means that young Filipino athletes can deliver.

The YOG is for athletes aged 15 to 18 years, and those winning medals here may one day win medals in the Summer Olympics.

“The YOG is youth level but of Olympic standard. If you can win medals at this stage, then YOG athletes may be good for two or three Summer Olympics, meaning the Filipino kiteboarder, who’s only 17, can vie in the next two Summer Olympics and be at his peak at 25.