The Tokyo Olympics ended last Sunday after a highly eventful and even inspiring 17 days of athletic competition. For Filipinos, this has been the best Olympics we've experienced so far: we got out first gold medal, it was the first time a Filipina boxer won a medal in boxing, it was the first time we won two silvers, and this was the largest medal haul we've had to date with four medals. Once again, thank you to Hidilyn Diaz, Nesthy Petecio, Eumir Marcial, and Carlo Paalam for the honor you brought to our country!
FOUR MEDALS FOR #PHI! 🥇🥈🥈🥉
— CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) August 7, 2021
Congratulations to Hidilyn Diaz, Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Marcial for not only winning Olympic medals but also bringing glory and pride to the country. We are proud of you! pic.twitter.com/7x0R8mbYjb
Thanks also to the rest of the Filipinos who competed at the Olympics!
- Bianca Pagdanganan - Women's Golf
- Carlos Yulo - All-around and Vault (Artistic Gymnastics)
- Cris Nievarez - Men's Singles Sculls
- EJ Obiena - Men's Pole Vault
- Elreen Ando - Women's 64kg Weightlifting
- Irish Magno - Women's Flyweight Boxing
- Jayson Valdez - Men's 10m Air Rifle
- Juvic Pagunsan - Men's Golf
- Kiyomi Watanabe - Women's 63kg Judo
- Kristina Knott - Women's 200m
- Kurt Barbosa - Men's 58kg Taekwondo
- Luke Gebbie - Men's 50m Freestyle and Men's 100m Freestyle
- Margielyn Didal - Women's Street Skateboarding
- Remedy Rule - Women's 100m Butterfly and Women's 200m Butterfly
- Yuka Saso - Women's Golf
MARAMING SALAMAT SA INYONG PAGLABAN PARA SA BAYAN! 🇵🇭💪🏻
— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) August 8, 2021
Taas-kamaong pagpupugay sa ating mga atletang Pilipino na buong tapang at lakas na lumaban sa Tokyo Olympics para sa Pilipinas. 🥇🥈🥈🥉#Tokyo2020 #Olympics #PHI https://t.co/Vtt4GMiJ0q pic.twitter.com/UERqphxDNN
Given that we are still in a global pandemic, there was a lot of uncertainty heading into the event, but it pushed through. Sadly, fans were not allowed to watch the events due to the rise of Covid cases in Japan. That didn't stop the host nation from organizing what may be the most logistically-challenging games ever, given that safety protocols had to be followed to prevent athletes from contracting Covid. While Tokyo may not have been able to recover the cost of hosting the Olympics through tourism during the event, I'm sure that once people are allowed to travel and the pandemic is under control (whenever that will happen), millions will flock to Japan, including me. Check out highlights of the closing ceremony here. (I'm impressed at how the Olympic Rings were formed during the futuristic light show!)
video uploaded in YouTube by Olympics
I also want to mention a couple of really interesting things that I found really interesting. The Mixed 4 x 400m Relay is the first time I saw a mixed-gender athletics competition at the Olympics (tennis and badminton of course have mixed doubles). It was also heartwarming to see Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy both winning gold medals at the Men's High Jump. Then there is Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands who tripped over another runner in the Women's 1500m heats but still finished first in her heat (she would win bronze in this event and gold at both the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters).
Thank you, Japan, for successfully organizing the Olympic Games. Thank you to all the athletes for playing hard and striving for excellence. And thank you to the Filipino athletes who fought hard for our country and who brought us honor and glory, medal or not.
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