THE Olympic gold is finally reachable?
Not that elusive anymore?
There for the picking?
That, seemingly, is the strong message delivered by the gold medals captured recently by Carlos Yulo and Nesthy Petecio.
Yulo made headlines for his twin feats of winning the gold in the floor exercise of the just-ended 41st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championship, in the process of becoming the first Filipino to become a world gymnast champion.
Petecio quickly followed up Yulo’s gleaming achievements by punching her way to the top in the World Boxing Championships, the terrific tandem transforming, in effect, October as the Philippines’s most fruitful month this year insofar as harvesting gold in sports is concerned.
Yulo accomplished his improbable victory in Stuttgart, Germany, where 80-plus countries were in attendance, unleashing his enormous talent, honed by a Japanese coach in their modest training camp in Tokyo, before a mesmerized audience too sharp not to discern between a fluke and a flop in the sport.
Petecio crafted her heroism in faraway Ulan-Ude, Russia, where she heroically humbled hometown bet Liudmila Vorontsove in a dramatic 3-2 squeaker that stunned more than silenced the rabidly partisan crowd.
Fittingly, Yulo of Pasay City, who turned 19 on February 16, and Petecio, the 27-year-old from Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, were rewarded P1 million each by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the government agency tasked to look after the financial needs of our athletes.
“This is our way of recognizing the exceptional exploits of Filipinos who give honor to our country through sports,” said PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez.
Before the PSC’s bonanza of incentives came were the long-standing financial backing of MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) for our boxers and gymnasts, not to mention the national quintet.
This proves once more that a government-private partnership in sports will produce a happy result more often than not, not necessarily immediately, but definitely in the near future.
And so, again, with the indescribable joy brought by Yulo and Petecio, can we finally snare the much-desired Olympic gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?
And look at this: Not only are the duo the only capable gold prospects in Tokyo. Pole vaulter EJ Obiena, skateboarder Margielyn Didal and, yes, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz are also strong contenders to end our gold drought in the Olympiad.
But while so much is expected of Yulo and Petecio in Tokyo next year, there is the first mission for them to accomplish before we could really move forward with confidence: Win in the Manila SEA Games in November and December.
While the regional meet is virtually a barangay-level event when ranged against the Olympics, it is almost a must for Yulo and Petecio—not to mention Obiena, Didal and Diaz—to win their events with ease in the coming SEA Games.
And this is not to say I’m exerting extra pressure on them, but merely to stress the obvious.
THAT’S IT While many were shocked a bit, San Miguel Beer’s Christian Standhardinger being shipped to Northport for Moala Tautuaa was almost expected. Standhardinger could not seem to fit in into Coach Leo Austria’s brand of coaching of virtual role-playing practiced to the hilt. Seemingly, Tautuaa’s ruggedly power- and brutal-laden game in both the perimeter and middle areas seems tailor-made for Austria’s style. Let’s see.