(First of a series)AS the pandemic-delayed opening of the Tokyo Olympics draws closer, Filipinos can't help but wonder: will this be the year when the Philippines finally seizes its first gold medal in the world's grandest sporting spectacle?Filipinos had been pursuing that elusive Olympic gold for close to a century now. It will be 97 years of pursuit, to be exact, when the Tokyo Games starts on July 23.The Philippines made its Olympic debut in 1924 in Paris. Since then, it has joined in all editions but the 1980 Moscow Olympics when the country joined the American-led boycott.The Philippines will send 19 world-class athletes to Tokyo and most Filipino sports leaders believe this is the country's best chance of winning the gold. But the question remains: who will be the first to end the drought?Three athletes from different eras came within a step short of turning that golden dream to reality: boxers Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto 'Onyok' Velasco Jr. and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz.They came so close to the top and yet the gold remained elusive.In 1996, Filipino fans cheered and cried when Velasco dropped a controversial match against Bulgarian Daniel Petrov, 6-19, in the men's light flyweight gold medal fight at the Atlanta Games.The 5-foot-2 pugilist from Bago, Negros Occidental had an impressive showing from the onset. He started with a first-round stoppage of Chin-hsiu of Chinese Taipei and followed it up with a stunning victory over the heavily favored Cuban Yosuani Aguilera, 15-4.Another win against Hamid Berhili of Morroco, 20-19, assured Velasco of the bronze medal.He scored another impressive win against Spain's Rafel Lozano, 22-10, to earn the right to face Petrov in the finals. But lady luck did not smile on Velasco in the championship match many Filipinos thought he should have won. Still, it was an amazing feat for Velasco, who returned home to a grand hero's welcome.Velasco was not the first Filipino boxer to make it all the way to the gold medal round. That honor belonged to the late Anthony Villanueva, who coincidentally had his share of controversial decision loss during the 1964 Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.Villanueva fought in the championship round of the featherweight division against Soviet fighter Stanislav Stepashkin. However, the Filipino boxer ended up losing via a 2-3 decision, denying him and the country a precious gold medal.Since Velasco's silver medal performance in 1996, the Philippines failed to capture a medal in the quadrennial games until Zamboanga City weightlifter Diaz ended the 20-year medal drought in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil when she snatched the silver in the women's 53kg division.Diaz's silver medal glittered like gold for Filipinos longing for Olympic glory.The 30-year-old Diaz will again don the country's tricolors in Tokyo and again aim for a gold.Overall, Team Philippines has a total haul of three silver medals and seven bronze medals in the Olympic Games since 1924; boxing accounted for two silvers and three bronzes, weightlifting one silver, while athletics and swimming each had two bronze medals.The first Filipino to win a medal in the Olympics was swimmer Teófilo Yldefonso who nabbed the bronze in the men's 200-meter breaststroke during the 1928 Amsterdam Games.He captured another bronze in the same category in the 1932 Los Angeles Games, making him the only Filipino to win multiple medals in the Olympics.So far, nine Filipino athletes belong to the elite class of Olympic medalists, including Anthony's father Jose Villanueva who bagged the bantamweight boxing bronze in 1932.Completing the list of bronze medalists are Simeon Toribio (men's high jump, athletics) in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics; Miguel White (men's 400m hurdle, athletics) in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Leopoldo Serantes (men's light flyweight, boxing) in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and Onyok's brother Roel Velasco (men's light flyweight, boxing) in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.The highest the Philippines climbed in the overall medal tally in the Olympics was in 1932 when the country ranked 25th with three bronze medals courtesy of Yldefonso, Villanueva and Toribio.Next: The medals
