SafekipediaPhilippines at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Adapted from Wikipedia · Adventurer experience
The Philippines joined the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Fifteen athletes, ten boys and five girls, competed for the Philippines. They took part in seventeen events across eight sports.
The Philippine government and private groups said they would give fifteen million Philippine Pesos, about three hundred and forty thousand US Dollars, to any athlete who won the country’s first gold medal. An athlete named Willy Wang won a gold medal in Wushu, but it didn’t count because Wushu was only shown as a demonstration sport, not an official event.
Even though many new national records were set in swimming and weightlifting, the Philippines did not win any medals. This was the third time in a row that the country left the Olympics without winning a medal.
Opening and closing ceremonies
On June 12, 2008, the Philippine Olympic Committee chose swimmer Miguel Molina to carry the flag at the start of the Olympic Games. Molina had done well in past competitions and was set to race in two swimming events.
Later, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked for popular boxer Manny Pacquiao to be the flag bearer instead, even though he was not competing. Pacquiao had just won a big boxing match. The committee agreed, and special plans were made so Pacquiao could take part. By July 9, 2008, everything was ready for Pacquiao to carry the flag. Molina agreed to let Pacquiao have the honor and was chosen to carry the flag at the end of the games.
President Arroyo attended the opening ceremony, the first Philippine president to do so. The team from the Philippines was the 164th group to march into the stadium in Beijing.
Overview by sport
Archery
Main article: Archery at the 2008 Summer Olympics
The Philippines had one archer, Mark Javier, in the men’s event. He won his place by doing well in a big archery contest in 2007. He started the competition in the middle but lost his first match to an archer from Chinese Taipei.
Athletics
Main article: Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Two long jumpers from the Philippines, Henry Dagmil and Marestella Torres, were allowed to compete even though they didn’t qualify the usual way. Dagmil had one good jump but finished near the bottom of the group. Torres hurt her knee before her first jump and also finished near the bottom.
Men
Women
Boxing
Main article: Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics
The Philippines had one boxer, Harry Tañamor, who won his place by doing well in a big boxing contest in 2007. He was hoped to maybe win a medal, but he lost his first match against a boxer from Ghana.
Diving
Main article: Diving at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Two divers represented the Philippines: Rexel Ryan Fabriga in the men’s high dive and Sheila Mae Perez in the women’s springboard. Neither moved past the first round of diving. Fabriga hurt his back before the competition, which made it hard for him to do well.
Men
Women
Shooting
Main article: Shooting at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Eric Ang, the oldest athlete on the team, competed in trap shooting. He didn’t do well and finished last in his group.
Men
Swimming
Main article: Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Five swimmers from the Philippines competed in seven events. No one moved past the first round, but some set new national records. Miguel Molina, Christel Simms, JB Walsh, and Daniel Coakley all swam faster than anyone from the Philippines had before.
Men
Women
Taekwondo
Main article: Taekwondo at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Two taekwondo athletes, Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette Rivero, competed for the Philippines. Both lost their first matches.
Weightlifting
Main article: Weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Hidilyn Diaz, a 17-year-old girl, was the first woman to represent the Philippines in weightlifting at the Olympics. She broke her own Philippine record with her lifts but finished near the bottom of the group. Coaches said she gained good experience and could do better in future games.
| Athlete | Event | Ranking round | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final / BM | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | Seed | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Rank | ||
| Mark Javier | Men's individual | 654 | 36 |  Kuo C-w (TPE) (29)L 102–106 | Did not advance | |||||
| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | Position | Distance | Position | ||
| Henry Dagmil | Long jump | 7.58 | 34 | Did not advance | |
| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | Position | Distance | Position | ||
| Marestella Torres | Long jump | 6.17 | 35 | Did not advance | |
| Athlete | Event | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank | ||
| Harry Tañamor | Light flyweight |  Plange (GHA)L 3–6 | Did not advance | ||||
| Athlete | Events | Preliminaries | Semifinals | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | Rank | ||
| Rexel Ryan Fabriga | 10 m platform | 358.85 | 28 | Did not advance | |||
| Athlete | Events | Preliminaries | Semifinals | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | Rank | ||
| Sheila Mae Perez | 3 m springboard | 251.15 | 23 | Did not advance | |||
| Athlete | Event | Heat | Semifinal | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | ||
| Ryan Paolo Arabejo | 1500 m freestyle | 15:42.27 | 32 | —N/a | Did not advance | ||
| Daniel Coakley | 50 m freestyle | 22.69 | 39 | Did not advance | |||
| Miguel Molina | 200 m breaststroke | 2:16.94 | 47 | Did not advance | |||
| 200 m individual medley | 2:01.61 | 27 | Did not advance | ||||
| James Walsh | 200 m butterfly | 1:59.39 NR | 29 | Did not advance | |||
| Athlete | Event | Heat | Semifinal | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | ||
| Christel Simms | 50 m freestyle | 26.64 | 47 | Did not advance | |||
| 100 m freestyle | 56.67 | 41 | Did not advance | ||||
| Athlete | Event | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Repechage | Bronze Medal | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank | ||
| Tshomlee Go | Men's −58 kg |  Carneli (AUS)L 0–1 | Did not advance | |||||
| Mary Antoinette Rivero | Women's −67 kg |  Šarić (CRO)L 1–4 | Did not advance | |||||
| Athlete | Event | Snatch | Clean & Jerk | Total | Rank | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | ||||
| Hidilyn Diaz | Women's −58 kg | 85 | 11 | 107 | 11 | 192 | 10 |
Media coverage
Solar Entertainment Corporation had the rights to show the 2008 Summer Olympics in the Philippines. They sent a team to cover the games and showed about 800 hours of events on their networks during the two weeks. For the first time, they showed events all day and all night on their main sports channel, Solar Sports.
Solar also showed the games on five other cable channels. All basketball games were on Basketball TV. Events like gymnastics and volleyball were shown on two stations for female viewers: ETC Entertainment Central and 2nd Avenue. Other events were on C/S, Jack TV, and a pay-per-view service called Solar All-Access.
Related articles
This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Philippines at the 2008 Summer Olympics, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.