The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
DAKAR—The Philippines—behind the silver medals won by Naomi Marjorie Cesar and Pi Durden Forward Wangkay in athletics—booked its best performance in the fourth edition of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) that came to a close on Friday night at the YOG Athletes Village in Diamniadio.
For Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham Tolentino, the 14-day campaign in the Senegalese capital was an accomplishment, a proof of progress and a beacon to invest more on grassroots.
“It’s the best performance, these two medals,” Tolentino said. “The level of competition in the YOG is high, the young athletes from the powerhouse countries are as high in their age group as their elite counterparts.”
Cesar’s silver and Wangkay’s bronze surpassed the silver won by Christian Tio in boys’ twin-tip racing of kiteboarding at the 2018 Buenos Aires Games—the gold Luis Gabriel Moreno shared with China’s Li Jiaman in mixed NOC in archery at Nanjing 2014 didn’t officially count.
The Philippines qualified nine athletes in Dakar—the first time an African country hosted an Olympic competition—in six sports where they faced opponents who’re also as young as 14 and no older than 17, but equipped with more superior skills culled from elite training programs particularly those from the Americas and Europe and the top countries in Asia.
“Obviously, size mattered in these YOG,” Tolentino said. “Our athletes’ opponents were bigger, stronger and faster.”
With those mentioned, Tolentino said a stronger grassroots program that’s not only confined at home is key.
“We need more grassroots programs,” said Tolentino, adding that scouting for heritage athletes overseas could compliment as a solution.
Then there’s the Southeast Asian Games Youth Plus, a brainchild of Tolentino whose inaugural edition will be hosted by the Philippines in December next year.
“The SEAG Youth Plus will provide that pathway to the YOG,” Tolentino said.
The SEAG Youth Plus will be a competition among athletes aged 16 and younger from the Southeast Asian, Asian and Oceania countries featuring 23 sports and will be played in Manila, Pasig, Tagaytay and Subic from December 2 to 14, 2027.
“From the SEAG Youth Plus, it will be on to the Asian Youth Games and then the YOG,” said Tolentino, noting that in the Bahrain AYG, the Philippines got seven gold, seven silver and 10 bronze medals—Wangkay won gold in the 200 meters, the same event where he captured silver here in Dakar, and Cesar silver in the 800 meters, the same color of medal she brought home from these YOG.
Jade Justine Justiniane capped the Philippine campaign—supported by the Philippine Sports Commission chaired by Patrick Gregorio—with a sixth place finish in the abbreviated men’s windsurfing event of sailing on Thursday at Saly Beach West.
Organizers cancelled the 15th and last race for men and women because of the absence of wind amid the searing heat off Senegal’s western coast on the Atlantic.
“I was hoping to try to catch up in the last race, but the officials decided to cancel it,” said the 16-year-old from Anilao who’s managed here by iconic Filipino windsurfer and coach German Paz.
And like his fellow athletes here, Justiniane savored the Dakar experience.
“It’s a dream come true to be in the Olympics and I’m so happy have competed here,” he said. “I made many friends and most important, I learned from my experience.”
Justiniane was Team Philippines’ flag-bearer in Friday night’s closing ceremony of the Dakar YOG which International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry described as “magical.”
“It really has been a magnificent journey,” Coventry told journalist in a press conference on Thursday at the Dakar Exhibition Center in Diamniadio. “And we’re so, so proud. I am so proud, I’m so grateful.”
“We’ve spent time in Dakar, we spent time here in Diamniadio, we’ve spent time in Saly, and it’s just really been extremely magical,” the swimming double Olympic gold medalist from Zimbabwe and the most decorated African athlete, added.
China topped the medals race with 17 gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals, followed by Japan (10-8-9 gold-silver-bronze) and the Russian Federation (8-4-2), the first time the country’s flag was recognized by the IOC in any of its games since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Singapore was the best-placed SEA Games country with 1-1-0 at No. 49, followed by Vietnam (0-2-0) at No. 64, Indonesia sharing No. 66 (0-1-2) and the Philippines (0-1-1) at No. 68 with other five countries, including Thailand.