| Greece was the birthplace
of the ancient Olympic Games, and the first modern Olympics was also held
in Greece in 1896. So it is very appropriate that the Olympics return to
Greece once more.
Over 10,000 athletes and
over 5,000 team officials from 201 National Olympic Committees will participate
in the 28 different sports events between August 13 and 29. There will
be 301 medal ceremonies.
The Philippines has participated
in 17 Olympic Games since 1924, but no Filipino athlete has yet returned
home with a gold medal. In 80 years, the bounty includes only 2 silver
and 7 bronze medals.
In all, 359 athletes in 19
different sports disciplines have represented our country. The biggest
contingent was the 64 athletes who went to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The
smallest delegation was made up of only 1 athlete, David Nepomuceno, who
competed in the 100-meter and 200-meter events during the 1924 Paris Olympics.
We skipped the 1980 Moscow Olympics following the lead of the United States
in boycotting that Olympics.
The 2 silver medals we got
both came from boxing. Anthony Villanueva settled for the silver in the
featherweight division during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Mansueto "Onyok"
Velasco got his silver medal in the light flyweight division during the
1996 Atlanta Games.
Swimmer Teofilo YIdefonso
brought home the first bronze medal whom he won in the 200-meter breaststroke
event in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. He got another bronze medal when
he finished third again in the same event at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
5 other bronze medals were
netted by tracksters Simeon Toribio and Miguel White; and boxers Jose "Cely"
Villanueva, Lepoldo Serantes and Roel Velasco.
3 other Filipino athletes
have also won medals, but only in demonstration/exhibition sports. Arianne
Cerdena won the gold medal in ladies' bowling during the 1988 Seoul Olympics,
while Stephen Fernandez and Bea Lucero each got a bronze in taekwondo during
the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
This year, the Philippine
contingent is composed of 16 athletes: 5 in swimming, 4 in boxing, 3 in
taekwondo, and 1 each in shooting, archery, track and field, and marathon.
These events are the ones depicted on the 4 stamps, a souvenir sheet and
2 first day covers. |
