[LAST OF A FIVE-PART SERIES]
CARRYING the Philippine flag in the Parade of Nations in the Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The flag-bearer not only leads the delegation but also carries the immense pressure of delivering for the country.
But does that also come with a curse?
To date, there’s only one athlete who got the flag-bearing duties in the opening ceremonies then made it to the podium - Eumir Marcial in Tokyo 2020. But he, too, was only a replacement after original choice EJ Obiena became unavailable due to the strict COVID-19 protocols in Japan.
For the others, the task proved too heavy.
Hidilyn Diaz is a prime example. Competing in her second Olympics, the weightlifter from Zamboanga was named as the flag bearer in London 2012, but turned in her worst performance in the Olympics, carrying 97kg in snatch and registering a did not finish in clean & jerk.
Luckily, Diaz picked herself up and bounced back stronger than ever, taking home silver in Rio 2016 and finally ending the country’s long quest for an Olympic gold in Tokyo 2020.
Donnie Geisler also had to deal with the same pressures in Sydney 2000.
Riding high from his silver medals at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok (featherweight) and the 2000 Asian Taekwondo Championships in Hong Kong (welterweight), the jin was expected to be a strong contender in the men’s 80kg category.
But right in his first match, Geisler bowed to Roman Livaja of Sweden in the round of 16.
He made it again to Athens 2004, but suffered the same fate and lost in the round of 16, this time to Bahri Tanrıkulu of Turkey.
The Philippines went the unconventional route in Rio 2016, naming table tennis player Ian Lariba and taekwondo jin Kirstie Alora as flag bearers.
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Lariba, the country’s first ever Olympian in table tennis, made a quick exit in the women’s singles event when she lost to Han Xing of Congo in the preliminaries.
Alora, seeded 16th in the tournament, also struggled in the women's +67 kg category, losing to Maria Espinoza of Mexico in the preliminaries and to Wiam Dislam of Morocco in repechage.
Kiyomi Watanabe is the latest casualty to that after sharing the flag bearer duties with Marcial in Tokyo 2020.
The Fil-Japanese judoka exited the women’s -63kg category as early as the round of 32 as she got shut out by Cristina Cabana Perez of Spain.
There’s no records of the Philippine Olympic flag bearers for Los Angeles 1932, Rome 1960, and Mexico City 1968.
As seen in the past of this series, flag bearers from boxing, athletics, swimming, and basketball have also failed to podium when they got the job.
It’s a tough sample size, really, with the Philippines only having a grand total of 14 medals: one gold, five silver, and eight bronze in its 100-year participation in the Olympic Games.
But if there’s a safe bet when it comes to breaking this curse, count on Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio to turn those fates around in Paris 2024.
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