Philippines went medalless in 1936 berlin Olympics
Credit to Author: Eddie G. Alinea| Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2020 13:28:13 +0000
The second World War that hovered above when Berlin hosted the 11th Olympic Games in 1936, finally broke out in the years that followed obliterating the holding of the Games as originally scheduled in Tokyo in 1940 and London in 1944.
In 1948, despite endless rain, food rationing, housing shortages, and the damage wreaked by Adolf Hitler’s bombs, London managed to stage the post war “austerity Olympics.”
For the first time, athletes from communist countries were included in list of 59 participating nations that included the Philippines.
That the four-year Olympic Games hiatus stagnated the sports development program in the country. For the first time since it won its first medal in 1928 in only its second outing in Amsterdam — a bronze courtesy if swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso — the 29-man national contingent went home with zero medal.
Strongman Salvador del Rosario saved the country’s participation with a fifth place finish in the featherweight division of weightlifting after hoisting a total 307.5 kilograms spiked with 97.5 kgs. in the press, 92.5 kgs. in snatch and 117.5 kgs. in clean and jerk.
Del Rosario, who ruled the country’s flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight classes, from 1939 to 1948, actually tied Nom Su of South Korea and Ishikawa of the United States the fourth, fifth and sixth places.
But the Cabangan, Zambaes native had to settle for fifth for having a heavier body weight than the Korean, who tipped the scale at 59.18 kgs. to the Filipinos’ 59.92. Del Rosario, though, beat 18 other entries in his field.
The basketball team, a surprised fifth placer in Berlin, was made up of Francisco Vestil, Eduardo Decena, Felicísimo Fajardo, Lauro “ The Fox” Mumar, Antonio Martinez, Manuel Araneta Jr., Andres dela Cruz, Gabriel Fajardo, Ramoncito Campos and Edgardo Fulgencio, slid to 12th of the 23-nation cast, submitting an even 4-win, 4-loss record.
Coached again by Dionisio “Chito” Calvo, the Filipinos started like a house on fire, snatching a pair of victories, 102-39, and Korea, 35-33, before losing to Chile 39-68.
Their 130-point output entered into the record books, though, as the first 100-point and above scored by any nation in the Olympic Games.
They bounced back a day later to reaffirm supremacy over Far Eastern Games favorite whipping boys Chinese, 51-32, but lost to Belgium, 37-35 in a game coach Calvo were expected to win, in the process, dropped a chance to barge into the eight-team quarterfinal round.
The setback pushed the Nationals back to the battle for the ninth to 15th positions.
Another loss,, this time to Peru, 29-49, and again to Belgium, 34-38, following a 45-45 squeaker over Argentina doused cold water on their bid to improve their placing.
On the other fronts, the rest of the 24-athlete contingent went huffing and puffing. The lone track and field entry, sprinter Bernabe Lovina could not finish better than fifth in heat six of the 100 meters and was ousted. The same fate he suffered in the 200 meters where he finished third in the second heat.
All five boxers that went into battle never reached the second round with flyweight Rodolfo Arpon bowing to eventual gold medalist Pacqual of Argentina, who was to crown himself the world 112-pound kingpin as a pro.
Bantamweight Bonifacio Zarcal, featherweight Leon Trani, lightweight Ernesto Porto, and welterweight Mariano Velez Jr. all lost on points to their respective opening round rivals.
Marksman Martin Gison, fourth place 12 years ago in Berlin, landed 25th in the 50-meter pistol event, while Cesar Jayme was 17th in and Albert von Ensiedel 22nd in 50-meter small bore rifle.
Swimmers Rene Amabuyok and Jacinto Cayco were, likewise, eliminated in the trials of the 200-meter breaststroke, ditto for Sambiano Basanung in the 400-meter freestyle.
Wrestler Francisco Vicera also failed to advance into the medal play.
The 1948 delegation of 24 athletes and five officials was the firsts for the country to have travelled by plane, although it took two flights to accommodate the entire contingent.
Despite enjoying the luxury of a plane trip, the flight turns out as circuitous as the country’s first four Olympic participations. The two groups had to stopover in Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi, Cairo, Athens, Rome and Madrid. They spent a night in Madrid from where they enplaned for London the following morning.