Lights on
They call Paris the City of Light, after being the first European nation to illuminate its streets with gas lights.
For the next 16 days, however, the brightest light in the city will come from the Olympic torch, the enduring symbol of the biggest multisport spectacle in the world.
The 2024 Paris Olympics kicks off on Friday (just after midnight Saturday in Manila) on the Seine River, where a unique opening ceremony takes place, featuring a parade of 90 boats carrying a total of more than 10,000 athletes.
On one of those boats, which will pass under the iconic Eiffel Tower, will be Team Philippines, a collection. of 22 athletes out to surpass their country’s best performance in the history of the Summer Games.
Philippines’ EJ Obiena celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Men’s Pole Vault REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
In Tokyo 2021, during an Olympiad delayed one year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the country finally got what it had sought for close to a hundred years: An Olympic champion.
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo became the country’s first gold medalist in the Games, and the country finished with additional silvers from Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio, and a bronze from their boxing teammate Eumir Marcial.
Going by the Philippines’ history in the Olympiad, that haul would be tough to match.
But don’t tell that to the spearheads of this current batch of Olympians.
World champion gymnast Carlos Yulo. Pole vaulter EJ Obiena. The national boxing team. Even golfer Bianca Pagdanganan. All these standouts have what it takes to overtake the Tokyo group.
“Definitely, we will deliver. With this template, with this preparation, we will surpass the Tokyo record,’’ said Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino.
The template includes money coming in no longer as a bonus but also as investment. Public and private funds poured in. to bolster the preparation of the national athletes, who participated in a training camp in Metz, France, as early as a month before the 2024 Olympiad’s opening.
“I believe this is the most prepared team in Philippine Olympics history,” Tolentino said.
All that preparation, though, will take a backseat as the time of reckoning draw near.
“There’s a big chance to win a gold,’’ said Yulo, the two-time world champion gymnast who is seen as the country’s top bet for a gold medal.
“I keep telling myself that this is my time. I’ve been doing this over and over, so I have to be confident,’’ he added.
The 23-year-old Yulo, who had a frustrating stint in the Tokyo Olympics, will also kick off the Philippine campaign, as he sees action in the qualification phase of the individual all-around on July 27. Marcial will also begin his first-round bid on the same day. Both are scheduled to compete at 9:30 p.m. Manila time.
Obiena, the second-best pole vaulter in the world, wants to finish first in the Olympiad even if his preparations were less-than-ideal.
“It has been what can only be termed a bumpy road this season. Despite my best efforts at conditioning, fitness and discipline, I have been battling with various physical problems since April,’’ Obiena wrote on his social media account.
“I know and fully understand this can happen to athletes training at such intensity and no complaints. But why now? This has meant constant stops and stitching training and competition together with my team as well as we could,’’ he added.
The Paris Olympics will be the first edition of the Games where the number of male and female athletes are almost equal.
In its own little way, Team Philippines helped balancing that ratio.
The country has 15 female Olympians and seven males.
Of the females, Nesthy Petecio and the women golfers are potential medal winners, gold even.
“The pressure’s there. It’s always there,” said the silver medalist in Tokyo, who will carry the flag in the opening ceremony along with fellow silver winner Carlo Paalam.
Pressure or none, the Filipino Olympians are ready.
“My main goal is to win a gold medal and inspire young athletes back home,” golfer Dottie Ardina said.
Paris is also known as the City of Love. And there is no doubt about the overflowing amount of love that awaits Team Philippines if it surpasses its best Olympic stint yet.
