Filipino Olympians All Set for the London Olympics

Exactly one month from now before the start of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. This biennial games (Summer and Winter Olympic games alternating every two years) will be held in London, United Kingdom from July 27, 2012 to August 12, 2012.

The Philippines contingent for this Olympiad will be the smallest delegation in the history of Olympics since 1996. Out of 302 events, Filipino athletes only managed to get 11 slots. From the small Philippine Olympic delegation, three of them are qualifiers and the rest are wild card entries and token representatives.

Nevertheless, I fully support our Filipino Olympians. Our faith with them is all what they have to strive harder to win a medal. I salute them, win or lose, for bringing honor to this country.

It's just so sad that Filipino athletes are not getting full support from our national government. Most of them are sponsored by privates companies.

Anyhow, hurray to our Olympians!!!

Mark Pinili Javier

Mark will compete in the men's individual in archery. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing Javier finished his ranking round with a total of 654 points. This gave him the 36th seed for the final competition bracket in which he faced Kuo Cheng Wei in the first round. Kuo won the match with 106-102 and advanced to the next round in which he was beaten by Park Kyung-Mo.

He finished 42nd in his event in the just-concluded World Archery Championships in Ogden, Utah where he gained his Olympic ticket.

Rachel Anne Cabral

She is our entry in the women's individual in archery. Cabral finished 37th out of more than a hundred participants in the World Archery Championships in Ogden, Utah where she gained her Olympic ticket together with her fellow archer Mark Javier. They both trained under Korean coach, Chun Jae-Hun.

Rene Herrera

Rene Gamarcha Herrera is a Gold Medalist in the 2011 South East Asian Games held at Palembang, Indonesia. He will compete in the 300m steeplechase.

Marestella Torres

She is also a Gold Medalist in the 2001 South East Asian Games and this is where she achieved her personal best jump of 6.71 meters, which is also a new SEA Games record. She is one of the Filipino qualifiers Olympian. She qualified after the Indonesia SEA Games. Torres’ 6.71-meter jump surpassed the 6.65m B-standard set for the London Games by the International Athletics Associations Federation. It was actually just 0.04m short of the A-standard of 6.75m.

Mark Anthony Barriga

Philippines is a home for many great boxer with the likes of Onyok Velasco and Manny Pacquiao among others. But Philippines will only send a lone Olympian in boxing.

Mark Anthony Barriga is the first Filipino to qualify for the Olympics. He qualified after competing at the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships. He will compete in the flyweight division.

Daniel Caluag

Daniel Caluag, a Fil-Am BMX rider, figured prominently in three tough qualifying tournaments to get the needed high-ranking points and emerge as the only Asian to make it to the BMX event in the quadrennial games.

Tomohiko Hoshina (in whites)

Veteran judoka Tomohiko Hoshina qualified in the men’s plus-100 kilogram category through a worldwide ranking by the International Judo Federation. He secured an Olympic berth after ranking 28th out of the 32 qualifiers for the weight category.

Brian Rosario

Brian Rosario  is a wild card entry. Brian got his Olympic ticket when the Philippine National Shooting Association (PNSA) leadership formally declared him to be the Philippines representative in the skeet shooting by the invitation of the International Shooting Sports Federation. 

Notwithstanding the wild card tag, Rosario is a legitimate qualifier, according to the PNSA. 

Jessie Lacuna

Jessie Khing Lacuna won silver in the men's 200 m freestyle in the 2011 South East Asian Games. He also won bronze both  in the men's 4 x 100m and 4 x 200m Freestyle. He will compete in the 200m freestyle.

Jasmine Alkhadi

Fil-Am swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi, is a 3-time gold medalist in the  2011 Southeast Asian Age Group. She qualified to the olympics by universality through her participation and best time in the world championships. She will compete in the 100m freestyle.

Hidilyn Diaz

She is ranked 9th in the world. Hidilyn Diaz is a wild card holder and the youngest participant in the last Beijing Olympics, made it as qualifier this time on the strength of her topnotch showing in the 58-kg class of the IWF World Championships last year in Paris, where she placed seventh and the Asian championships last month in Korea, where she wound up fourth. She will compete in the 58 kg division in weightlifting.