The chief of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) hailed national athletes after the Philippines emerged as the top Southeast Asian country in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Philippines ended the Paris Games with two gold medals — courtesy of gymnast Carlos Yulo — and two bronzes from boxers Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio.
It is the country’s best-ever performance in the Games, surpassing the haul from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when national athletes brought home one gold, two silvers and a bronze.
“We’re the best performer in Southeast Asia, and no. 7 in Asia,” POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said on Sunday, August 11, ahead of the closing ceremony.
“We wanted more, but with two gold and two bronze medals, should we ask for more from Paris?” he added.
Yulo became the first Filipino athlete to win multiple medals in a single Games when he ruled both the vault and floor exercise in men’s artistic gymnastics.
Meanwhile, Petecio became just the fourth Filipino athlete with more than one Olympic medal when she added a bronze to the silver that she won in Tokyo.
And Villegas capped a memorable Olympic debut with a bronze of her own.
Their efforts put the Philippines in a share of 35th place in the medal table with Hong Kong.
As of 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, China remains at no. 1 with 40 golds, 27 silvers and 24 bronzes, followed by the United States with 39-44-42.
Japan was fourth with 18, South Korea seventh with 13, then Uzbekistan (eight) at no. 13, Iran (three) at no. 22 and Chinese Taipei (two golds with five bronzes) at no. 33.
The Philippines was no. 1 among countries competing in the SEA Games with its closest pursuer Indonesia also winning two gold medals but only had a bronze in badminton.
Kazakhstan, an Asian Games powerhouse, surprisingly only has one gold medal in judo.
“We’ve gone quality in Paris — in gymnastics, a blue-chip sport,” Tolentino said.
“And looking at the SEA Games countries, we outperformed our closest neighbors.”
Thailand, a perennial SEA Games champion, could only go 1-3-2 with its taekwondo gold, while Malaysia lost its best gold medal hope when Azizulhasni Awang was disqualified in the men’s keirin cycling and will have to settle with two badminton bronze medals.
Singapore lost its sting in the pool and will go home with a sailing bronze medal. (ABS-CBN News)