With 22 athletes, and a handful of firsts even before the Games begin, the Philippines’ participation in this year’s Paris 2024 Olympics is cause for a lot of excitement.
Related: Here Are All The Filipino Athletes Competing At The 2024 Paris Olympics
Light the torches, wave the flags high! The biggest sporting and athletics event in the world is upon us again, this time in Paris, France. The 2024 Summer Olympics, or simply Paris 2024, will be held from July 26 to August 11, exactly one hundred years since 1924 Paris, which signaled a new era in the Games henceforth.
The Philippines’ participation at the previous 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was historic, as weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz brought home the country’s first gold medal and our athletes brought home four medals total in the country’s best performance yet in a single Gaes. This year, 22 athletes are jetting off to Paris hoping to secure more medals and make their country proud.
Whether you’re a big sports fan or not, there’s no denying the impact the Olympics have on, well, everything, from politics to culture. Millions upon millions of people are eager to see the best of the best of sports and athletics compete, break records, and earn medals in the newest edition of the Olympics. But for us, here are just a few reasons why we’re counting down the days until this year’s Games begin.
100 YEARS AT THE OLYMPICS
This year marks a whole century since the Philippines’ debut at the Olympic Games in 1924—in Paris, as well, which we should take as a great sign. Prior to that, we’ve only been participating as part of Spain or the US. It wasn’t even until 1929 that the International Olympic Committee recognized the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (now the Philippine Olympic Committee) as the country’s National Olympic Committee.
Now, 100 years later and 14 Olympic medals later, our Olympic team heads to Paris to compete in the Games, hoping to add new medals, new records, and new achievements under their belt and under our flag.
A BIG, DIVERSE DELEGATION OF ATHLETES
Sending in 22 athletes across nine sports, 7 men and 15 women (the most we’ve ever had compete), we’ve got a stacked delegation of representatives this year. From born-and-raised Filipinos to Filipino-Americans who chose to fly under our flag, our athletes totally represent just how diverse, driven, and dedicated the Filipino people are.
PINOY PRIDE
We don’t just mean pride in terms of waving the Philippine flag. Boxers Nesthy Petecio and Hergie Bayacdan, openly lesbian and a trans man, respectively, are both athletes bringing pride to the nation.
The two are both headed to Paris 2024—for Nesthy, her second run at the Olympics, and for Hergie, his first time qualifying for the Games—blazing a trail for all Pinoy queer athletes and aspiring athletes, and punching down barriers along the way.
SWIMMING IN THE SEINE
@zozomccormack Replying to @Mariechen Paris 💩 protest update from the Seine on June 23rd !! will parisians actually go through with it? will the Seine be ready for the Paris Olympics? will President Emmanuel Macron swim in it? exciting stuff over here 💩🥴 #parisprotest #parisseine #seineparis #seineriver #emmanuelmacron #parisolympics2024 #parisolympics #olympics2024 #parisian ♬ original sound – ZOE IN PARIS 🇫🇷
It’s not technically involving the Philippines directly, but the whole Seine controversy is still cause to be seated if only to see how it goes. If you’re chronically online, then you know about the whole “Poo Protest” and the controversy surrounding the river Seine in Paris.
TL;DR: The Paris government insists the Seine will be ready before the Olympic Games start, but Parisians have been saying that there’s no way the polluted Seine will be clean enough for events such as the swimming leg of the triathlon to be held there (oh, and they didn’t actually want the city to host the Games), and that their taxpayer money has been wasted. We can only wait and see as to how the Parisian government will handle the whole debacle.
THREE FIRSTS HELD BY WOMEN
Though a long time coming, Filipino women’s representation at the Games have grown in recent years, and the significance of Hidilyn Diaz’s and Nesthy Petecio’s victories at 2020 Tokyo, in respective sports that are popularly perceived to be “men’s sport” no less, is not lost on people. It’s not enough that this year, we’ve sent in the most female athletes in the history of our participation, no—some of these athletes are record-breakers already.
First Female Rower At The Olympics
Twenty-six year old Joanie Delgaco is a rower, SEA Games gold medalist, and the first Filipina rower to make it to the Olympics. She’s the fourth Filipino rower to make it to the Games after Edgardo Maerina , Benjamin Tolentino Jr., and Cris Nievarez, and the only Filipino delegate in this year’s rowing category.
First Filipina Gymnast Springing Her Way To Paris Since 1964
The young Aleah Finnegan was born in Missouri to a Filipina mother and American father. She was part of the US Women’s Gymnastics National Team (2019-2021), and actually wasn’t looking to further her professional career until she got an offer to represent the Philippines at the 2022 SEA Games. Now, she’s secured a slot at Paris 2024, the first Filipina gymnast to carry the flag since Maria-Luisa Floro and Evelyn Magluyan in Tokyo 1964.
First Filipino Fencer At The Games Since 1992
In 1992, fencer Walter Torres competed in the individual foil event in Barcelona. Thirty-two years later, after much hard work and determination, and an injury that almost hindered her chances to compete at Paris 2024, 22-year old Samantha Catantan becomes the second Filipino fencer and first female fencer to make her way to the Olympic pistes.
Continue Reading: The Many Ways In Which Team Philippines Made History And Broke Important Barriers At The 2020 Tokyo Olympics
