How host PH ruled the 2005 SEA Games
Credit to Author: Eddie G. Alinea| Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2019 17:28:29 +0000
Late evening one day, after the Philippines crowned itself the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, sportswriters gathered in their favorite water hole discussing who the best performers were that 23rd edition of the bi-annual conclave.
Someone threw his choice: ”The national athletes, of course, from the winners to those who failed to win any medals and their respective families. They are the true heroes of this, our memorable historic achievement.”
No one, as expected, contested his assessment.
“The coaches, trainers, utilities and team staff who molded and motivated the athletes in their preparations and, especially, during competitions,” another butted in.
Others batted for all heads of national sports associations, who charted the programs for their athletes, who, in turn, followed them in the years that followed after the country earned the right to host the Games.
Still quiet a few mentioned the private sponsors, especially the First Gentleman — Gentleman (Jose Miguel Arroyo) who raised a whooping P160 million that provided the athletes training for at least two years, including international exposures.
San Miguel Corp., headed by Ramon S. Ang, which sponsored 11 sports and appointed his greatest athletes Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim, Hector Calma, Peer Martin, Chito Loyzaga, to mention a few, to monitor the athletes’ training and actual performance, in the process, producing some 30 percent of the national delegation’s total 113-gold medal harvest.
The MVP Group, too, headed by Manuel V. Pangilinan, as well as Tony Boy Cojuangco, PCSO, Putch Puyat, PAGCOR, Megaworld, Andrew Tan, Aboitiz, Samsung, Nestle (Milo), Lucio Tan Jr. (Allied Bank), Globe Telecom, Vivian Yuchengco (Equitable PCI Bank), Ernest Escaler, Enrique Razon (ICTSI) and Philam Foundation (CAPASCO).
Kudos should also go to the Philippine Sports Commission and its chaiman Butch Ramirez, the International Press Center, headed by Moying Martelino, and his counterpart at the PSC Secretariat Joseph Dumuk and lastly millions of Filipino fans, who watch inside the venues, on television, listened to the radios, and read the sports pages in a display of unwavering support to the national athletes’ quest for excellence.
Bringing back the hands of time, sports scribes found out that the 23rd SEA Games was when the Philippines, in romping off with the overall championship, broke the long years of subservience to the region’s perennial sports powers Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
That the Filipino athletes had, finally, shackled the ghost of the 1991 “Manila Miracle of ‘91” when they finished runnerup to the Indonesians, losing the general title by a mere gold medal, 91-92.
To do that, the hosts’ swimmer Miguel Molina, diver Sheila Mae Perez and rower Benjamin Tolentino had to put extra efforts on stashing away with three gold medals each, fencer Joanna Franquelli, gymnast Roel Ramirez, tennister Cecil Mamiit, cue artist Antonio Gabica, archer Amaya Paz, trackster Jimar Aling, cue artists Antonio Gabica and Rubilen Amit, golfer Juvic Pagunsan, marksman Paul Brian Rosario and wushu master Willie Wang romped off with a pair each and no less than 117 of their teammates taking a gold medal each.
The Filipinos also went home with 84 silver and 94 bronze medals. Their total gold production was 26 more than second placer Thais, who kept rallying but failed from the time the hosts dropped a 20-gold bomb in the second day of hostilities.
Vietnam, overall winner in 2003, only managed 71 golds in third and Indonesia, which lorded it over the 11-nation federation nine times of the last 11 staging since joining the conclave along with the Philippines and Brunei in 1977, fell to its worst finish with 49 golds, behind Malaysia’s 61.
There were moments of anxiety when the Thai Prime Minister came up with a statement charging the host country, of conniving with the judges and referees with the end in view changing results in its favor, which his underlings denied afterwards.
There was no denying though that the host athletes, numbering a total 742, were head and shoulder above their closest pursuers, the Thais, with a lopsided margin.
Wushu bagged 11 of the 22 golds at stake in the sport, athletics had 8, swimming 9, boxing 8, billiards and snooker 8, taekwondo 6, traditional boat race 6, fencing 5, wrestling 5, bowling 4, judo 4, archery 4, arnis, karatedo, muay, rowing, shooting, tennis 3 each, cycling, bodybuilding, dancesport, golf, gymnastics, and softball 2 each, lawn balls, baseball, equestrian and pencak silat, 1 each.