"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."
--Michael Jordan
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Hosting the 2017 Palarong Pambansa has catapulted Antique into the elite rank of Philippine provinces that embraced the spirit of Olympism.
From the ranks of wet-behind-the-ear youngsters representing 18 regions nationwide will rise the country's next aspirants for world Olympic Games, the biggest global sporting event which originated in ancient Greece 3,000 years ago.
As we very well know, Palarong Pambansa is the precursor of bigger sports competitions where our world-class athletes are spotted, chosen, and trained to represent the country in the Southeast (SEA) Games, Asian Games, World Cup, Inter-Continental Games, and the World Olympic Games.
The Philippines is one of the only few Southeast Asian countries that have not won an Olympic gold medal since the first modern Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, where 280 participants from 13 nations, competing in 43 events were featured.
Since 1994, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games have been held separately and have alternated every two years.
From the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., the Games were held every four years in Olympia, located in the western Peloponnese peninsula, in honor of the god Zeus.
GOLD
With the participation of some of the country's finest and promising athletes in Binirayan Sports Complex in San Jose, Antique, we expect the first future Olympic gold medalist from the Philippines to emerge in the 2017 Palarong Pambansa.
The spirit of Olympism is the key. Big or small sporting competitions in any locality, Olympism promotes the sport for hope, which is a joint initiative between the International Olympic Committee, its Olympic Movement stakeholders and the local governments.
It aims to provide young people and local communities with positive sports development opportunities, offer state-of-the-art training facilities to the National Federations and the athletes of the country, and spread the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. Sport for Hope Centres may also serve as platforms for social development and innovative cooperation to contribute to a better and more peaceful world through sport.
A Sport for Hope Center may be established in Antique after the staging of the Palarong Pambansa.
SEMINAR
In 1991, then Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Celso Dayrit propagated the spirit of Olympism among sports leaders in Iloilo City in a seminar attended by this writer.
Dayrit emphasized that the spirit of Olympism can emanate even in grassroots competitions like the Palarong Pambansa.
First espoused by the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pier de Coubertin, Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.
Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
