A weighty problem

Recent reports say that the country’s best medal hope in international sporting competitions is carrying a heavy burden.  Heavy because an appeal was made by the concerned athlete for financial assistance on preparations to qualify for an Olympic spot in next year’s Tokyo Games.

2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, in a social media post said that she’s struggling with her training because of her lack of funding and wondered if it would be okay to ask assistance from private companies.  As per post, her dire need for financial support pushed her to go beyond shame so she can fulfill her dream of giving the country another Olympic medal.

A month ago, Diaz, along with another sports and TV personality, were linked to a conspiracy to malign the present occupant of that palace by the river, complete with a detailed presentation by a palace spokesman, which came out as baseless and according to the police, was without evidence.  Maybe recognizing the screw up, the same spokesman later blamed the media for a “wrong analysis” that led to the Zamboanga native’s inclusion.  Up to now, we still have to hear the “right” analysis from that presidential spokesman. Could this be the reason for the alleged lack of funding?

But the Philippine Sports Commission says otherwise, explaining that Diaz is among one of the elite athletes receiving big allowances on the national pool.  This, the PSC said, aside from taking care of her foreign coach and training and her participation in international competitions.  To the best of my knowledge, the PSC is now peopled mostly by competent individuals and I do not believe that they will be making life heavier for Diaz.

This issue resulted in some harsh bashings she had since received in social media and should be giving her mental stress.  Comment simply that she had become greedy and are asking what ever happened to all the incentives from her medal winning efforts plus all the allowances and the salary she gets as enlisted personnel of the Philippine Air Force. 

Incentives in this case, are given to top performing athletes as a form of motivation and prize for their accomplishment and it could be financial or otherwise.  It will be the discretion of the recipient on what to do with the reward.  All expenses related to training will be the responsibility and concern of the country’s sports governing body and I think they had not been remiss in their duties.  Maybe someone needs some financial education?

There’s supposed to be a weightlifting association that should be taking care of their lifters and considering that Diaz is a potential medal winner, the NSA’s upper management should have taken cared of the matter but as always, politicking gets top priority.  Going deeper, there could be some kind of connivance among power grabbers that found Diaz as a convenient scapegoat, specially with her inclusion in that so called “matrix” and these black hearted individuals could have convinced her to do this as a form of revenge to the government.

If indeed there is some truth to this issue, she should have settled things without letting the universe know and met with the people concerned to settle things.  I feel sorry for Diaz with all the negativity the issue had created.  This must be resolved ASAP so that she can really focus on training and have a clear shot at finally bagging our first Olympic gold.  And then just let whoever wants to grab credit when she succeeds with the feat.  Damn!