Next stop: LA 2028
The end of the Philippine campaign in the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, one that registered its biggest total medal haul in six decades, creates enough momentum for the country heading into the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics.
Of the country’s 29 medals, 13 came from events that have been so far listed on the confirmed LA 2028 Olympic medal program.
That group includes three of the four golds that the country bagged: Carlos Yulo’s titles in men’s floor exercise and vault, and EJ Obiena’s victory in men’s pole vault.
Yulo and Obiena, along with women’s singles tennis bronze medalist Alex Eala, are expected to spearhead Team Philippines’ charge in Los Angeles.
“It’s always an honor,” Eala had previously said about representing the country. “I think it’s different when you play in the SEA Games, Asian Games or the Olympics.”
The Philippines also won nine silvers and 16 bronzes for a total of 29 gold medals—the country’s largest total since the 1966 Bangkok Games, when it won 42 medals, according to official Olympic Council of Asia medal tables.
Not all of Team Philippines’ success, however, can be translated into an Olympic push.
Jeus Gabriel Derick Yape’s gold, for example, was from the mixed individual virtual taekwondo—an event that is not on the LA Olympic program. The LA Olympics will award taekwondo medals only in four men’s and four women’s kyorugi weight divisions.
Yape’s bronze in individual poomsae and Juliana Mykhail Candelaria’s poomsae silver are also not events in LA 2028.
Tachiana Keizha Mangin’s silver in women’s -49kg taekwondo and Kurt Barbosa’s silver in men’s -58kg are directly transferable Olympic events, with both divisions confirmed for LA 2028.
Archery offers another example.
Amaya Paz-Cojuangco won silver in women’s individual compound at the Asian Games. Compound archery will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles, but only in the mixed-team event. There will be no women’s individual compound medal in LA 2028.
However, archery officials have already hatched a plan for the mixed-team event, where they will pair Cojuangco with 18-year-old Mateusz Vaughn Johnson to chase that mixed-team Olympic spot.
“LA Olympics 2028 has included a mixed teamcompound event, and hopefully we can make it there. We will try to qualify either through the Olympic qualifiers and ranking points,” Cojuangco said.
Aside from Yulo, Obiena, Eala, Mangin and Barbosa, also having a viable path to the Olympics through their Asiad success are Carlo Paalam in men’s boxing, Victoria Bossong in the women’s 800 meters, John Cabang Tolentino in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, Jayuard Alciso in men’s shortboard surfing, and Khy Progella and Sofiah Pagara in women’s beach volleyball.
“I want a podium at the Olympics, so this was honestly a very good stepping stone,” said Bossong after a bronze in the 800-meter race turned her into one of the biggest revelations of Team Philippines in the Asian Games.
“This is the biggest competition I’ve gone to by far. Just to land on the podium is a big accomplishment even if it’s not gold.”
Karl Eldrew Yulo’s bronze in men’s horizontal bar and the Philippine women’s silver in 3×3 basketball also came in events that are on the LA 2028 program.
Some medalists may require a few adjustments if they want to gun for Olympic glory.
Weightlifter Albert Ian Delos Santos, for example, won bronze at 70kg. LA 2028 will use a different men’s weight-class structure, with no 70kg division, meaning Delos Santos will have to train for a different weight class.
“He’s the future of weightlifting. He’s a future Olympian, a potential gold medalist,” Olympic gold medalist and weightlifting queen Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo said. “But I was honest with him that realistically, he’s still far from the level of the Olympics.”
“I want to make him understand that the process in the Olympics is very hard.”
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