?It is not whether you win or lose; It is how you played the game that matters,? are two clauses which have time and again been quoted, by losers that is.
These lines are nothing but a limp excuse for an athlete or a nation who once again failed to win a medal in the greatest sports show on earth: The Olympic Games.
So, the Philippine team comes home from London empty-handed. Then, we start dreaming again for that elusive medal and the almost impossible Gold in the next Olympics four years from now.
Filipino athletes will come home again with nothing gained but experience in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil if our sports authorities decide to ignore the very evident lessons on the Filipino athletes? capacity and capability in excelling in a world sports competition like the quadrennial games as seen in the country?s performance in the London Games.
In spite of our obsession with basketball and other team sports where height is a critical factor, the Philippines? only best chance of winning a medal and possibly the gold is only in contact sports, especially boxing.
While tiny Mark Anthony Barriga may have been deprived of a possible Olympic medal mainly because of the obvious incompetence and bias of the referee, his performance thrilled the nation and titillated the imagination of a people who have long hungered for the moment when they will hear the Philippine national anthem being played in the Olympics.
Barriga?s loss was just a combination of a tactical mistake, with the coach instructing him to mix it up when he was already ahead on points en route to the last round, and plain lack of luck for drawing a referee who was incompetent to handle the very critical fight.
What if Barriga?s corner instructed him to play hide and seek in the last round? He would not have been deducted two points following the tackles he had with his taller opponent.
What if the referee was a little sympathetic with the Filipino boxer? He would have slapped the two points deduction against Barriga?s opponent thus ensuring victory.
We could go on and on discussing the ?what could have beens? but all these suppositions would result to nothing.
What was evident was that a well-prepared boxer who was a product of a grassroots boxing program initiated by a provincial political leader had the big chance of winning an Olympic medal.
And this is the lesson that we should learn from the program initiated by former Congressman Tonyboy Floreindo of Davao del Norte from whose grassroots boxing program Barriga and the other Olympic hopeful Charlie Suarez came from.
All this talk by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) about winning a medal in the Brazil Olympics would amount to nothing if they do not embark on a program that will help grassroots boxing programs like the one being undertaken by former Congressman Floreindo.
What ABAP needs to do now is work hand in hand with local government units who have the funds for sports programs and initiate a national grassroots amateur boxing program like Floreindo?s.
Remember the days when the City Government of Bago and the other local governments in Negros Occidental were deeply involved in amateur boxing?
Those were the heydays of the Ilonggo amateur boxers from Leopoldo Cantancio, the Jamili brothers, and the Velasco brothers who both won medals in the Olympics.
ABAP must also do away with the centralized training program where prospective Olympic participants are taken from their home clubs and brought to Manila to train under the ABAP coaches.
I believe that the best formula is to allow these boxers to train with their original trainers in their home provinces. The ABAP can just support them by providing logistical support and perhaps consultants who could go to these areas.
The practice of plucking out talented boxers from their gyms and giving them to new trainers has not worked.
ABAP has to learn from this lesson just as our sports officials should learn to accept the fact that dreaming of an Olympic gold in weightlifting is just as impossible as sending a karetela to the moon.
