As I watched Filipino gymnast Carlos “Caloy” Yulo break into tears after he made history winning the country’s first-ever medal in Olympic gymnastics, I cried with him because I know how it feels.
I do not play any sports at all so the feeling I share with Caloy is more related to overcoming obstacles to reach one’s goal and not that of an athlete winning at the Olympics. And I believe many Filipinos can relate to that and that is why we are all crying and feeling victorious and proud with Caloy now.
But I think no other Filipino can best relate to Caloy’s experience than another Filipino Olympic gold medalist, Hidilyn Diaz. Her touching Instagram post that reminds Caloy to offer his victory for God and country because “lahat ng tagumpay natin ay hindi pansarili” (all our triumphs are not for ourselves alone) truly stunned me.
It stunned me because both Olympians played individual, not team, sports. And both Filipino athletes have humble beginnings and suffered from inadequate support from the Philippine government all throughout their journey to achieve Olympic gold. They also both struggled with setbacks and mental health issues before realizing their dream.
Both amazing athletes practically did all the work themselves. The rest of the country just showed up and rallied behind them after they already won. Millions started pouring in after they became certified Olympic gold medalists.
I remember Hidilyn being bashed before for putting the Philippine government in a bad light because she was soliciting funds from private sponsors to help her get to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she won our country’s first ever gold medal.
And yet here she is telling Caloy to offer his Olympic win “para sa bayan” (for the country).
I do not know about the rest of the Philippines, but I feel so unworthy of the honor of their victory. Maybe God alone deserves it, but our country, not so much.
Because, seriously, how much of Filipino taxpayers’ money are invested in sports development and supporting young athletes in this country? Especially if you compare all the public funds that go to useless expenses like salaries and expenses of nonperforming government officials and their corrupt practices.
So it makes me mad when such politicians share the limelight of our champion athletes when their victories happened not because of them, but in spite of them.
In Atom Araullo’s investigative report in 2021 entitled, “Anatomy of Philippines’ first Olympic gold medal,” he reported that “It boils down to money: how much or how little of it we allocate to sports.”
He noted two models for funding sports. The American model and the Chinese model, two countries that dominate the Olympics.
The United States (US) does not have a government-funded sports agency. The US instead has national sports governing bodies supported by corporate sponsors and broadcast rights agreements. That works well for the US because sports is a major industry there. It is big business.
On the other hand, China adopts a state-driven strategy through the General Administration of Sports in China (GASC), which gets firm financial backing from the government that is easily “25 times more” than what the Philippine government allocates.
The Philippines adopts a combination of government funds and corporate sponsorship. The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has an annual general appropriation and it also receives remittances from the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
Under Republic Act 6847, the law that created the PSC, PAGCOR is mandated to turnover five percent of its gross income to the government sports agency and PCSO is required to remit 30 percent of the proceeds of six sweepstakes or lottery draws per annum. However, based on reports, both PAGCOR and PCSO have not been remitting their full share for many years now.
Corporate sponsorships are difficult to track. Sponsors make their arrangements directly with the athletes they want to support or through the different national sports associations (NSA).
According to Araullo’s report, athletes receive allowances between P10,000 to P45,000 depending on their category, which is determined by their success in international competition. For national team members who train for the whole year and have no other means of support, that is their only source. In some cases, they also rely on their allowance to support their families. So when the release of their allowance gets delayed, it disrupts not just their training but also their family’s well-being.
Obviously, that monthly allowance is not enough to prepare for the Olympics. Elite athletes need serious investments for their preparation that is why most elite athletes in the country come from middle and upper class backgrounds. Athletes who are not rich face a lot of challenges.
Exhibit A is Hidilyn. She estimated the cost of her training and preparation for the Olympics from 2019 to 2021 at 15 million pesos. According to her, around 60 percent of that came from the government and 40 percent from the private sector.
But that support did not come easily, She had to beg, borrow, and go to battle. She even got into trouble for speaking out and her security and that of her family’s threatened.
It is because sports financing in the Philippines is heavily influenced by the dynamics of power in the country’s sports system.
The leadership in the different NSAs and even in the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is dominated by incumbent politicians and members of prominent political families. So naturally partisan political dynamics affect sports and athletes become collateral damage.
As chess prodigy Wesley So said: “To be poor and unconnected in the Philippines is to be trash for rich people to step on.”
And yet the poor and unconnected Hidilyn and Caloy are the ones who won for our country Olympic gold medals. Both came from grassroots sports development programs. Both got into sports under educational scholarship programs. They beat all the odds.
Their Olympic story mirrors the stories of many Filipinos in this country whose daily lives are endless loops of obstacle races. Forget about getting a medal at the end of the race, they just want to survive and make it day by day.
Filipinos are elite athletes in the Olympic Games of Life. We do not need a gold medal. We just need a system that works and gives all of us equal opportunities and adequate support.
