There is a lot to unpack from the Paris 2024 Olympics.
I started writing this article with the goal of proving that basketball is not the enemy that is sometimes painted out to be when it comes to the lack of support that other sports are getting in international competitions. It’s an argument and a stance that always gets shared and reposted every four years when the Olympics happen. This year, with the rousing success of Carlos Yulo with his double golds, and our two bronze medals from our boxers Neshty Petecio and Aira Villegas, the conversation is back again. And with every repost on social media, the flames against basketball get bigger.
I was going to attempt to douse this fire but another one caught my attention.
It doesn’t take much to discredit the basketball naysayers, anyway. Most if not all of the substantial funding that our basketball program gets comes from private backers. We have MVP and now RSA to thank for that. Aside from that, The popularity of basketball in the country makes it self-sustaining. It drives revenue from tickets, streams, advertising, and merchandising. No other sport, aside from volleyball, can bring that many people to watch a game and spend money to do so.
Until our other sports get to that level of consistent viewership and patronage from a wider scope, outside of the Olympics, we simply can not expect the same sustained popularity for them. I love what some brands and affluent people are doing in supporting our sportspeople in their quest for Olympic glory, but every sportsperson knows that the journey is a long one. The nation tunes in once every four years to see the results, but the process has been going on far before that.
Of course, it’s not as if they aren’t trying. In fact, there is immense effort involved in building a sports program for any sport. We’re just not paying as much attention as we should. Is basketball to blame for that?
Basketball is unique in that there is a commercial product that can be sold year-round in which people are willing to pay to watch. Call it unfair, unreasonable, or even as some people point out: “the fault of our American conquerors.”
But again, Filipinos will watch basketball.
And besides, it’s a false dichotomy. It’s not as if you watch and support basketball that automatically you are not supporting other sports. Again, the argument has to stop. Basketball will always be a popular sport, but that doesn’t mean other sports can not thrive, and frankly, that’s not basketball’s problem.
But I digress. Back to that other fire that caught my attention.
More than sports
We should be extremely happy about these Olympics. It should be a cause for celebration. I mean who would have thought that in our lifetimes, we will hear the Philippine National Anthem in the Olympics not once, but thrice in four years? And yes there are celebrations for all our athletes and even more to come as they make their way home to the motherland.
But these Olympics more than any in recent history seems to highlight more things other than the athletic prowess of our athletes.
I’m not even going to elaborate on the family squabble that has materialized in front of the nation and has gripped all maritesses and tolits in the interwebs. This was supposed to be a private matter but repost after repost and the fire grew and it grew until the athlete in question didn’t have a choice but to address it directly and the mother had to resort to the lawyer of all lawyers (and not in a good way) to protect her.
Nobody wins here, and instead of celebrating a victory, people are left watching a telenovela unfold.
Then, the many gender and religious issues that arose starting from the opening ceremonies and ending with the two female boxers who competed, both of whom made it to the finals of their weight class divisions, and won.
Let’s focus on sports, though. This is a nuanced discussion since both boxers were banned by the IBA, but allowed to compete by the IOC, which is the governing body of the Olympics.
Even if both of these boxers were not Filipinos, online, everybody had an opinion. Frankly, the argument is moot. The IOC allowed the two boxers to compete. Therefore they competed. We can talk about genetic variables and gender issues all we want, but the fact of the matter is, they were allowed to compete. End of story.
The uniform debacle of our lady golfers which turned into a blaming and excuse contest is another sad lowlight. By now, if you have been following the Olympics at all, you know about what happened or did not happen to the uniform of our golfers, depending on who you want to believe. Through all of that, both Bianca and Dottie played their best golf with Bianca coming a shot off of a bronze.
Then, of course, the newest issue is the coaching issue of our weightlifter, Vanessa Sarno who detailed how “toxic” her environment was, leading to the games with her federation not allowing her coach to join her in the final lead-up to Paris. There are two sides to any story and this is still up in the air as to who is really to blame.
I say all of this to make a point. Well, many points.
Lessons to take away
First, social media is dangerous. A quick comb of all the comments and reposts online will see a lot of misinformed opinions being shared. That’s the design of social media. Something catches your attention, a headline, a blurb, a provocative photo, and then you comment and repost without knowing the full context. It’s made to be quick.
I remember when I accompanied my daughter to a school project where she had to interview a very well-respected and veteran journalist. She said, “Proper news takes time because we make sure that we get all the facts right.” We simply don’t have all the facts when our only source is social media where likes and follows are the barometer for credibility.
Second point: where there is smoke, there is fire (I’ve hit my quota on fire analogies, I know). But with all the issues that you read, even if there are two sides to the story, the fact that there is even a story other than sports is alarming in itself. Again, we don’t have all the facts. But if our athletes are saying something, I think we better listen. They are the ones who have to sacrifice their lives and bodies to bring glory to the nation. They are the ones who spend countless hours preparing for competition. If they say something is wrong, it has to be investigated.
Again, don’t get me wrong. We should be happy about these Olympics but I hope that we learned a few things as well.
First, our athletes need more support. If in fact, we want to be competitive in the Olympics (which not all people think is a priority), then we need to increase our sports budget. Again, this will not come from basketball. The national budget for sports has decreased significantly for 2025 compared to 2024. At face value, we can attribute this to 2025 not being an Olympic year, but when you look at the budget for amateur sports development programs, it is 50% less compared to 2024.
Guess where we can find the next Caloy, Neshty, Aira, and even Hidilyn? Amateur sports. I’m hoping this budget can be increased, and more importantly, put to good use in developing amateur athletes.
Second, and I will shout this from the mountains till the day I die: MAKE SPORTS A PRIORITY IN SCHOOL. I love our PE teachers. They are doing the Lord’s work. But I’m sorry, once a week physical education will not make a nation strong. The love for sports starts at an early age. And schools should realize that physical education, and physical skill development, is as important as science, math, history, and other subjects.
Finally, and this goes to everyone on social media, including myself. When you see something, don’t react right away. Think, research, and spend time actually formulating an informed opinion. It goes against the algo I know because social media rewards the quick and the provocative. But reading through the comments and posts that I see online, it just makes me sad and scared. We need to be better.
The next Olympics is happening in 2028. I’m very optimistic that this 2024 Olympics will start a movement that will continue to grow towards that time, and beyond. Here’s to hoping that when that time comes, we will have established a much more well-rounded grassroots program that can be sustainable and replicable in the many areas of our archipelago.
And here’s to hoping that we’ll have more medals than boxes of uniforms stranded in customs.
Banner images from AFP and FIG.