Finally, the Philippines got a gold medal in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Filipino Wushu delegate Willy Wang won the gold medal in the wushu competition last Friday. Winning in the competition lifted up the spirits of the Philippine delegates several hours after the last medal hope of the Philippines, Mary Antoinette Rivero, lost to a Croatian fighter in women’s taekwondo’s -67 kg class. At last, the Philippine flag was raised and the national anthem played in the Beijing Olympics.Though Wushu is classified as a demonstration sport in the Beijing 2008 Olympics and a medal won in this event will not be included in the official medal tally, winning a gold medal in the event indeed brings honor to the Philippines. A gold medal is always a gold medal anyway. A similar victory in an exhibition sport was achieved by Filipino bowler Arianne Cerdeña who won a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The other medalists joining Willy Wang are Marianne Mariano and Benjie Rivera who took the bronze in the sanshou events and Mary Jane Estimar earned silver.
In a bid to eventually get the game considered in the official Olympic’s event, 128 athletes from 43 countries who qualified in the last year’s world wushu championships gathered in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. As a demo sport, wushu debuted in the 1936 Berlin Games.
Though the 15-man Philippine contingent will come home without any medal from official sports event in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, a similar fate that happened in 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics, they deserve the gratitude of the Filipino nation for they did their best and fought a good fight, which I think is most important. Anyhow, a competition has always a two-sided result, winning and having done your best. We could only hope that the Philippine government will truly exert efforts to revitalize its sports training program for the nation to achieve the ever elusive gold medal in the Olympics.
To the Philippine athletes, welcome home champions…Mabuhay kayong lahat!
The other medalists joining Willy Wang are Marianne Mariano and Benjie Rivera who took the bronze in the sanshou events and Mary Jane Estimar earned silver.
In a bid to eventually get the game considered in the official Olympic’s event, 128 athletes from 43 countries who qualified in the last year’s world wushu championships gathered in the Beijing 2008 Olympics. As a demo sport, wushu debuted in the 1936 Berlin Games.
Though the 15-man Philippine contingent will come home without any medal from official sports event in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, a similar fate that happened in 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics, they deserve the gratitude of the Filipino nation for they did their best and fought a good fight, which I think is most important. Anyhow, a competition has always a two-sided result, winning and having done your best. We could only hope that the Philippine government will truly exert efforts to revitalize its sports training program for the nation to achieve the ever elusive gold medal in the Olympics.
To the Philippine athletes, welcome home champions…Mabuhay kayong lahat!
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