The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Robert Andaya
The Filipino athletes can excel in the world stage anytime, anywhere.
In fact, former Project Gintong Alay head Michael Keon said there is so much outstanding local athletic talent all over the country waiting to be discovered.
But Keon, who is widely responsible for the success of the late Asian sprint superstar Lydia de Vega, long jump queen Elma Muros-Posadas and other track greats in the 80s, urged sports leaders to do the right thing in bringing out the best in these athletes.
“There is so much talent in this country that falls through the cracks in the system and it is really sayang,” said Keon during the San Miguel Corporation-sponsored Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Awards Night held at the Diamond Hotel in Manila last March 6.
Keon, who was appointed by former President Ferdinand Marcos as director of the Project Gintong Alay in 1979, revealed he had talked with Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann in Laoag last week on how the sports agency could accomplish this goal.
“We talked about what is important to Philippine sports now. I advised him (Bachmann) that the PSC should concentrate together with the National Sports Associations because there is so much talent in this country,” said Keon, who now serves as Mayor of Laoag, Ilocos Norte.
“I believe chairman Bachmann is receptive to our advice and will initiate this with the help of the NSAs,” added Keon in the grand affair presented by the PSC and Cignal TV, and backed by the POC, Tagaytay City Mayor Bambol Tolentino, MILO, Smart, MVP Sports Foundation, Rain or Shine, 1Pacman Rep. Mikee Romero, Philippine Basketball Association, OKBet, ICTSI, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
The 68-year-old Keon said he was happy for the opportunity in shaping the celebrated athletic careers of De Vega, who was elevated into the PSA Hall of Fame, and Muros-Posadas, who was honored with the
PSA Lifetime achievement Award.
Keon also lamented that De Vega could have attained greater heights had she focused on the women’s 400-meter race instead of the glamor 100 and 200-meter sprint events.
“The first competition that Gintong Alay had was the UAAP vs. Gintong Alay which was in May 1980. Lydia de Vega ran the 400 meters, not the 100, not the 200. She broke the Asian Games record, the SEA Games record, and the Philippine record of 54.6 seconds at the age of 16,” he recalled.
“Now you all know that physical athletes mature at 22 to 26. If Lydia had continued to train in the 400 meters, she would have easily second 50 seconds for the 400 and which would put her in an Olympic final…. she would have been in my eyes an Olympic champion,” stressed Keon.
But he pointed out that “this does not detract from her being the Asian Games gold medalist twice,” referring to the comely sprinter’s back-to-back gold medals in the century dash in the 1982
New Delhi and 1986 Seoul Asiad.
“Having said that, she (De Vega) is still the pinaka-best athlete that this country has ever had and I was fortunate enough to be a part of training here. I am happy with her legacy and she really deserves this award.”
Among those present during the PSA Awards Night were PATAFA president Terry Capistrano, Muros and husband-coach Jojo Posadas, Emerson Obiena and wife Jeanette Uy, parents of pole vault champion E. J. Obiena, and Stephanie Mercado, daughter of De Vega.