Philippines And Its Quest For An Olympic Boxing Gold

Everybody from across the world knows who Manny Pacquiao is. Every time he steps into the ring, The Fighting Congressman From Sarangani in a David-like fashion valiantly takes on giants of the boxing world. Weaving and bobbing through every punch, he doesnt only deliver astounding victories but also gives his fellow countrymen a moment to be proud of as he showcases Filipino talent for the world to see. As exciting as his matches are, Filipino amateur boxers are trying their best to start their own campaign to bag that elusive Olympic boxing gold, which seemed to slip from our grasps every time we compete.

Philippines is one of the remaining countries who has failed to win a single gold medal since the inception of the Olympics in 1896. We only managed to win a total of 9 medals; 5 coming from Filipino boxers. The closest weve got in achieving such feat came in the 1996 Olympic games held in Atlanta, when Mansueto Onyok Velasco was beaten by Bulgarian boxer Daniel Petrov Bujilov in a match marred by controversy, that might have cost us our first ever Olympic gold. In the succeeding Olympics Games, we failed to net a single medal even after garnering accolades from different international boxing events and meets. Now with less than 2 years till the start of the 2012 London Olympics, Will we ever get a taste of gold or is this reality just a mere dream?

The implementation of a grassroots program to help fund the development of our amateur boxers has already begun. Suntok Ginto aims to give boxers world-class training and build facilities for boxers with the hopes of getting gold in the upcoming Olympics. Even though support from the private sector has been generous for the past few years, its still not enough to create an Olympic-level sports program. Funding has always been a problem; resources are divided through different sports. As a result; our athletes fail to deliver what they are expected to. The key here is to place a huge portion of your resources to one sport. Like our Asian neighbor, Thailand invested heavily in their boxing program and it reaped rewards in the 1996 Olympic Games, which they won their first gold medal. On the same note, Suntok Ginto calls for the cooperation and unity of everyone, from the man on the streets to the CEOs, to help push for a single cause-to win our first Olympic gold medal.

Despite dominating the boxing event in the recently concluded Asian Games in Guangzhou, the attention given by the Filipino people and the government is at an all-time low and is usually pushed aside by other popular sports such as basketball and our recent favorite, soccer. With the Olympics just around the corner, the road to the top is still filled of obstacles and challenges and its definitely a steep one.