The first great Olympic success
Duke crawls to gold

The 1912 Games in Stockholm were by comparison to the first faltering steps of the previous events a relative success.

This was mainly because of a number of welcome changes. For the first time athletes from five continents took part in the Games and the events took place over what was a shorter period of just over two months.

The Games were also independent in that they were no mere appendage to a larger event.

One of the great stars was Finland's Hannes Kolehmainen, who won the 5,000m, 10,000m and cross-counrty races to establish a great tradition of Nordic middle distance dominance that lasted up until World War II.

A number of American athletes also lit up the Games and helped their nation pip Sweden in the medals table with a haul of 25 as opposed to the hosts' tally of 23.

Hawaian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku, also widely acknowledged for the popularisation of surfing, eased toward the 100m freestyle gold with his innovation, the front crawl style.

American sprinter Ralph Craig romped to a double gold in the 100m and 200m events and his compatriot Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and the decathlon.

Thorpe however was later accused of professionalism and was both stripped of his medals and black-listed. It was not until 1982 that he was posthumously re-instated.

Several events featured for the last time, the long and high jump without run-up and the two handed hammer and discuss for example, while boxing, banned in Sweden at the time, was temporarily sidelined.

The Games were a great success for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its founder Pierre de Coubertin.

However, many were saddened by the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lazaro, who collapsed during the race due to heat exhaustion.

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.

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 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.

The Philippines is the first nation in the tropics to ever participate in the Winter Olympic Games.

The Philippines has only won medals in three events since joining the Olympics in 1924.

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, though not competing, carries the Philippine flag at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

The Philippines is the first country to compete and win an Olympic medal among Southeast Asian countries.

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.

With only eight athletes in six sporting events for the London Games, this will be PH's smallest delegation since 1996.

The largest delegation the Philippines has ever sent to the Games was 53 in the 1972 Munich 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.

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 has not won a medal since Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco settled for silver in boxing via a controversial decision during the 1996 Atlanta 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).

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.