The Olympic Games has gone a long way, from the establishment of the modern games in 1896 to becoming the most prestigious sporting event in the world. It truly became the standard and dream of every athlete all over the world to compete in. Performing in athletics or sports requires physical strength and growing up in a country where gender concepts of machismo and marianismo are still rampant even up to today, there are still some people who find it odd for women to compete for events that require ‘masculine’ strength and for men to compete for events that have ‘feminine’ movements.
During the 2020 Summer Olympics, officially known as Games of the XXXII Olympiad or Tokyo 2020, Team Philippines sent what some people might have thought of as an ‘unusual’ set of representatives. We sent females for weightlifting, judo, skateboarding and boxing while we sent a male for gymnastics. This is enough proof that sports are not and will never be gender-based.
The best example for this is the weightlifting event where we did not send any male competitors. We sent two women, Elreen Ando, who took the seventh spot of the Women’s 64kg event, and Hidilyn Diaz, who eventually became the first ever Filipino to grab the elusive Olympic gold medal for the Philippines. We also have Nesthy Petecio, the first Filipina boxer to win a medal on her Olympic debut, Kiyomi Watanabe for Judo, skateboarder Margielyn Didal, who became an internet sensation because of her scene-stealing charisma, golfer Yuka Saso who landed in Rank 9 on her Olympic debut and competed together with another Filipina golfer Bianca Pagdanganan. These women followed their hearts’ desire and are now earning all these achievements because of it.
Carlos Yulo, the only gymnast we have sent to this year’s Summer Olympics, chose artistic gymnastics as his sport, which some people may conceive as a very feminine sport for men. Despite this, he became one of our country’s top gymnasts and has been competing internationally since 2018. He is the first Filipino and the first male Southeast Asian gymnast to win in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
The Team Philippines of Tokyo 2020 not only proved the capabilities of the Filipinos when it comes to the world sporting events, but also the fact that there is no connection between the gender and sport that one chooses. Sporting events may be divided into men’s and women’s categories but it’s hard to maintain composure growing up in a country who thinks artistic sports are generally for women and physical sports are generally for men. They gave the Philippines its most successful Olympic year since joining in 1924. And above those shining medals are the hope and inspiration they gave to young athletes and dreamers who once in their lives hesitated to pursue their chosen sport because of gender norms. They proved that they can break these stereotypes and make an impactful career out of their chosen paths—all while not caring about what the gender-biased society will say.
Congratulations and thank you, Tokyo 2020 Team Philippines!
