1:58 am | Saturday, August 18th, 2012
THE SEESAW battle between the United States and China in the just-ended 2012 London Olympics saw the American athletes eventually overtaking the Chinese by six gold medals in the overall tally, 46-38.
All told, the US accumulated 46 gold, 29 silver, and 29 bronze medals for a total of 104 as against China’s 38-27-23 tally and 88 overall. Host country Great Britain made the biggest leap with a 29-17-19 gold-silver-bronze haul and 65 overall.
The US contingent struck early through its swimmers, led by Michael Phelps who won four golds. With a total of 22 medals in the Olympics, 18 of them golds, Phelps considered himself as the greatest Olympian of all times, surpassing past Olympic icons as fellow American Carl Lewis, and Finland’s Paavo Nurmi, also known as he “Flying Finn.”
Lewis won two golds in the 100-meters, one gold, one silver in the 200m, three golds in long jump, and two golds in the 4 x 100m relay in the 1984 (Los Angeles), 1988 (Seoul) and 1996 (Atlanta) Olympics.
Nurmi won nine golds in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, establishing world records in less than 90 minutes in the 1,500 meter run in 3:53.6 and the 5,000m in 14:31.2. During a race, the “Flying Finn” carried a stopwatch. He was considered as the first runner to bring a scientific and tactical approach to the long distance races.
As a young man he climbed out of bed and chased trolley cars in the city and raced the mail train through the pine forests. He spent his military service with running very much in his mind. According to the records, he would leave camp long before the sun came up, returning in time for reveille. He grew into a taciturn, stolid, huge-chested man with an enlarging bald spot and once described by well-known sports columnist Jim Murray him as “sere as the Finnish winter, as bleak as an icicle, as gloomy as the second act of an Ibsen play.”
He was looking forward to the Los Angeles marathon in 1932. But failed to make it at the last moment when charges were brought against him by the International Olympic Committee that he had accepted monetary compensation along the way. As a consequence he was declared a professional. In the words of one race official the findings only proved that Nurmi had “the lowest heart rate and the highest asking price of any athlete in the world.”
In London 2012, the US overtook China with late victories in the decathlon and women’s football—avenging a loss in the 2011 World Cup. It was also the third successive Olym crown.
By the way, American women athletes outnumbered the men in this year’s US Olympic delegation.
China, relying on its signature sport table tennis, badminton and diving, had taken the early lead, but lost it to the US when the crack American swimmers flexed their muscles led by the great Michael Phelps.
The Americans credited popular hometown support, keen determination to win and rigorous training under competent coaches for their victory in London. It was the third time for London to host the modern Olympics, having hosted the quadrennial Games in 1908 and 1948.
Other heroes in London 2012 were Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who became the first Olympian to retain both the 100-meter dash and 200-meter titles besides being a member of the victorious 4 x 100m relay team, and double amputee Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. But that will be for another column.
Tags: 2012 London Olympics , China , Olympics , United States
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| POS | COUNTRY | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
| 1 | United States | 46 | 29 | 29 | 104 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 27 | 23 | 88 |
| 3 | Great Britain | 29 | 17 | 19 | 65 |
| 4 | Russia | 24 | 26 | 32 | 82 |
| 5 | South Korea | 13 | 8 | 7 | 28 |
| 6 | Germany | 11 | 19 | 14 | 44 |
| 7 | France | 11 | 11 | 12 | 34 |
| 8 | Italy | 8 | 9 | 11 | 28 |
| 9 | Hungary | 8 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
| 10 | Australia | 7 | 16 | 12 | 35 |
The Philippines has only won medals in three events since joining the Olympics in 1924.
The Philippines holds the record for winning the most medals without a gold haul with seven bronze and two silvers for a total of nine.
The Philippines has not won a medal since Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco settled for silver in boxing via a controversial decision during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, though not competing, carries the Philippine flag at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Teofilo Yldefonso is the first Filipino to win a medal and the only one to take home multiple medals. He finished third both in the Men's 200 meter breastroke during the 1928 and 1932 Olympics.
1972 was the last year the Philippine men's basketball team, which then paraded William 'Bogs' Adornado, Danny Florencio and Yoyong Martirez among others in its line up, has qualified for the Olympics.
Arianne Cerdena won a gold in bowling at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but Cerdena's gold was not included in the medal tally since bowling was considered only as a demonstration sport.
The Philippine basketball team wound up fifth place—best finish for an Asian country in the Olympics to date—in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the first time basketball was played as an Olympic sport.
With only eight athletes in six sporting events for the London Games, this will be PH's smallest delegation since 1996.
Men's boxing has for medals in the Olympics with Anthony Villanueva, silver in the Featherweight Division of the 1964 Games in Tokyo; Leopoldo Serantes, third in 1988 Seoul; Roel Velasco, third in Barcelona; and his brother Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco, second in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
The Philippines last reached the final round swimming 80 years ago when Jikirum Adjaluddin and Teofilo Yldefonso ended up in the final six in the 1932 Los Angeles Games.
Mary Antoinette Rivero's tie for fifth place in Taekwondo is the closest any Filipino athlete came to a medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The largest delegation the Philippines has ever sent to the Games was 53 in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Philippines will shoot for its first gold medal in six of the following events in the 2012 London Olympics: Athletics, BMX, Boxing, Cycling, Shooting and Swimming.
Harry Tañamor, the only Filipino predicted to win by the Sports Illustrated in its Olympic Preview edition, bows out in the first match up in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The Philippines participated in the Winter Olympics three times, in 1972 (Juan Cipriano and Ben Nanasca, alpine skiing), in 1988 (Raymund Ocampo, luge) and in 1992 (Michael Teruel, alpine skiing).
John Baylon, a nine-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, and Jerry Diño were the last Filipino Olympic qualifiers in the discipline Judo, having vied in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
The men's Philippine Basketball team is the first country to ever score 100 or more points in the 1948 Olympics after clobbering Iraq,102-30.
The Philippines is the first nation in the tropics to ever participate in the Winter Olympic Games.
The Philippines is the first country to compete and win an Olympic medal among Southeast Asian countries.
