Lemme change things up for a second as I take a break from not doing my case report. 😅
Anyone here in the Philippines who is not living under a rock would probably know of the amazing feat that the local weightlifting fairy Hidilyn Diaz was able to accomplish.
I am no stranger to getting swept up in national pride, and for the first time in so long, I genuinely felt it again. This woman has gone through so much, and trained so hard to get to where she is now, and she really did it for flag and country! Watching her cry at top of the podium while singing the national anthem as Lupang Hinirang played for all the world to hear, gave me goosebumps as I felt an entire plethora of unexpected emotions..
The fact that she was praising and thanking God in the middle of it all was so touching and inspiring (Image source here)
To paraphrase and add to what a friend said earlier, she has lifted the country on her shoulders out of the depths of fear and uncertainty, even for a brief moment, to remind us of who we are and what we should stand for. It is just unfortunate that all this happened under the shadow of the pandemic, but that does not diminish her achievement at all. She bested powerhouse China, of all nations, to win the first ever Olympic gold medal for the Philippines.
I have to admit that I wasn't really an avid fan of Philippine Olympic participation the past years. My earliest memory of interest in the Olympics was when Masueto "Onyok" Velasco Jr. won silver in the 48kg boxing category during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Sadly, Onyok terminated his olympic campaign to capitalize on his popularity by acting as a comedian in local sitcoms. The unfortunate story can be read here.
Be that as it may, Onyok, like all the other national athletes representing or who have represented the Philippines, also primarily fought for flag and country. Hidilyn's victory made me do some introspection, and has led me to regret supporting another boxer a few years back.
No, I won't be posting a picture of him here, as I do not wish to waste any effort on him, and neither will I mention him by name, because this post is to honor the real sports heroes of the country.
I realized that said boxer was nothing more than just a paid mercenary, fighting not for flag, but for the purse. Filipinos, by nature, gravitated toward him and saw him as a champion of the people. We deluded ourselves that his fights were fights for the country, but that was nowhere near the truth. We threw our support behind him, showered him with praise and adulation. Heck, the army even gave him a substantial honorary command rank in the reserves, all because he was fighting for the millions of pesos that he would pocket after every bout. When he wins, he wins for himself. He brings recognition to the country, sure. Indirectly at best, but bear in mind that it is not an achievement for the nation, and nor should his wins be a source of national pride, kasi pera-pera lang naman yan eh. Our country becomes the "idiot nation" where said mercenary was able to charm the population into voting him into higher public office despite having nary a hint of competency for governance. And no, you can't justify that you will just learn on the fly, kasi hindi ito boxing, gago. The things you do in office will have an impact on populations of people. No wonder developed countries are laughing at us for being a backward banana republic. We put the wrong people in office turn a blind eye to them enriching themselves while the same people moan about how bad things are and how government should do more for them.
On the other hand, you have the true national athletes, languishing in their dilapidated training facilities, with nary a drop of support compared to the one shown to the mercenary. They only get a mere pittance of an allowance, and the government seems to ignore them unless there is a potential photo op to be had. Now I really feel sorry for not supporting Philippine sports in earnest, mainly because I was generally indifferent to sports growing up. Now I know better, and I intend to do better for them.
Another peeve I have for this boxing mercenary is his corruption of sport, although in hindsight, his actions were inevitable and should have been expected. Said mercenary made waves when he was drafted as a playing coach in the highest basketball league of the land. It was in al likelihood a massive publicity stunt by the company behind the said team, but it really pissed me off. You have this guy, a superb athlete in his field (boxing), who just happens to like basketball and plays somewhat well at the barangay level (I dunno, I never cared to see him play), suddenly shoehorned into a roster spot that thousands if not millions of hopeful players have been training their whole lives to earn someday. Initially I was so disgusted by this act, that he bypassed (and in turn, disrespected) the normal grind that any athlete goes through to reach the highest level, and just pissed on it all just because he got fucking popular due to his fights for money.
I am no athlete, but as an avid basketball fan, I have massive respect for those who train to get to where they are. To have this total amateur take a free ride to the top just like that was just a slap to the face. I though sport was the ultimate equalizer, that money wasn't supposed to matter as long as you had the skills to compete at the highest level (I am aware that getting good training costs money, but that is besides the point I am trying to get across here). Its a bit funny, because the dude came from a humble background, quite similar to other athletes from the provinces who try their luck in Manila by way of college athletic scholarships. Now I realize that I should not have been disgusted, because that is the sort of thing that I should have expected from him from the get-go.
Bottom line is that he should not have deserved my respect and admiration as a supposed national sports icon. If ever, he would just be noticed because he seemed good in winning fights for prize money.
Before I end my piece, I would like to share another thing I saw that got me triggered all over again:
Now this is just pathetic. Coming on the heels of Hidilyn's historic win is another case of Filipinos trying to ride the coattails of someone who does not represent them. No disrespect to the athlete. A win is a win, and this post by no means aims to diminish the achievement. Congratulations all the same. What I'm hitting at is the attribution of the achievement. Wake up guys, the person is still classified as a foreigner who plays for another country, so it's cringeworthy to see putting #Olympinoywalangimposible hashtags underneath this, because she ain't Pinay in the Olympic sense. Kahit pa sabihin niya na Pinay pride siya or whatever, bottomline is ang panalo niya ay hindi para sa atin, kundi para sa Amerika! She does not represent us, and it makes no sense that you are trying to foster a sense of ownership and pride over something that is clearly not ours. That above post should not have been done, or at least could have been handled a bit differently. We go from praising Hidilyn as a true local hero, to lumping her together with all these Fil-Ams and their wins for other countries. We should have more national pride than that. We should not be riding the achievements of people who are not truly "one of us", because they did not really do anything tangible for the country, na nagkataon lang na may lahing Pinoy. Ang pathetic lang kasi.. Nakakahiya na.. Yun lang.
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