Cover Check out some top moments from our Filipino athletes in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 (Photo: Margielyn Didal, Hidilyn Diaz, and Nesthy Petecio; edited by Angela Nicole Guiral)
Check out some top moments from our Filipino athletes in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 (Photo: Margielyn Didal, Hidilyn Diaz, and Nesthy Petecio; edited by Angela Nicole Guiral)
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The Tokyo Olympics 2020 was one for the books. Here’s a look back at some of our athletes’ best moments
For the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, the Philippine Olympic Committee fielded a team of 19 athletes—nine men and ten women—to compete in eleven different sports. The team achieved its best Olympic performance ever, bringing home four medals and surpassing the three medals it won at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 1932.
Adding to its historical feats is the first-ever gold medal for the Philippines, won by weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz. The country also marked its Olympic debut in skateboarding (a new addition to the Olympics) and its return to gymnastics and rowing.
Here’s a look back at our best performances in the Tokyo Olympics.
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Hidilyn Diaz and her historic win
In 2020, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz made history by becoming the first athlete from the Philippines to win gold at the Olympics. She set an Olympic record, lifting a combined weight of 224 kilograms, to clinch the top spot in the women’s 55-kg class in Tokyo.
“I was never able to lift 127 kilogrammes in the clean-and-jerk before. I have tried but never could,” shared Diaz in an interview with Tatler in 2021. “I was not thinking of the Olympic record, I was not thinking of a medal; I was just focusing on the movement—one motion, chest out.”
Prior to Diaz’s gold, the Philippines had claimed just 10 Olympic medals: three silvers and seven bronzes. Adding more weight to the win is having a woman achieve the only Olympic gold medal the country has won. “This is so significant for me, that I was able to prove that we, women, can do this,” she said.
Margielyn Didal and her skateboarding feats
Despite falling short of a historic medal in the inaugural staging of women’s street skateboarding in the Olympics, Margielyn Didal was still all smiles. She won the hearts of everybody present in the venue and watching all over the world.
The Olympics even acknowledged Didal’s charm in a post, saying: “This will be known as the ‘Margielyn Didal seal approval’.”
Read more: ‘It’s not all about the medals’: Olympian Margielyn Didal and her skateboarding journey
Above Olympian Margielyn Didal smiles for the crowd (Photo: Tokyo 2020/X)
Olympian Margielyn Didal smiles for the crowd (Photo: Tokyo 2020/X)
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In a press event of Beyond the Board: The Margielyn Didal Story, Gretchen Ho said, “It’s awesome that even without world-class facilities, we were still able to produce Margie and other Olympians. It just shows how amazing the Filipino spirit is.”
Despite not winning in the Olympics, Didal inspired change. The skating community in the Philippines is growing. For example, the Baler Skate Park in Quezon Province now rivals even facilities found in Los Angeles. “At the end of the day, Margielyn still won. You can see it in the kids playing, in the crowds, and in the venues. That’s her gold medal,” sports journalist Paolo Del Rosario said.
A slew of boxing medals
Above Carlo Paalam, Eumir Marcial, and Nesthy Petecio will compete in the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024 (Photo: Nesthy Petecio/Facebook)
Carlo Paalam, Eumir Marcial, and Nesthy Petecio will compete in the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024 (Photo: Nesthy Petecio/Facebook)
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Rounding up Diaz’s gold are three medals from Philippine boxers: a silver courtesy of Nesthy Petecio—the first Filipina Olympic boxing medalist, another silver by Carlo Paalam, and a bronze by Eumir Marcial.
The trio reunites in the Paris Olympics 2024 after Paalam—the last of the three—qualified for the Games. “We’re going back to the Olympics together again! I’m so happy, and the three of us made it again,” Petecio wrote on social media moments after Paalam won a slot.
Boxing has become a source of medals for the Philippines, with the country winning eight of the total 14 medals won in the history of the Summer Olympics. Previous boxing medalists were Jose Villanueva, Anthony Villanueva, Leopoldo Serantes, Roel Velasco, and Onyok Velasco.
Fans are hopeful that Petecio, Paalam, and Marcial will bag the gold this time around.
Read more: Meet the 18 Filipino athletes set to compete at the Paris Olympics 2024
A return to gymnastics
Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo made his Olympic debut, achieving his best finish with a fourth place in the vault, narrowly missing the podium. Despite an early exit in the floor exercise, he fell short of securing at least a third-place finish, tallying an average score of 14.716 in two attempts.
He returns for the Paris Olympics 2024 and revealed in a statement on June 29 that he’s 70 to 80 per cent ready for the competition.
“I didn’t enjoy my last Olympics because of so much pressure, but I’m still super grateful. Now I have learnings to bring in the upcoming Games,” he said.
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Angela Nicole Regis Guiral is a digital editor at Tatler Philippines. She studied journalism and has since written features that look closely at how culture, lifestyle and social impact converge, while occasionally wandering into the worlds of style and travel.
