Such superhuman feats!

It takes so little to make the Filipino happy. So little to make him smile, and hope. This is being proven in the case of young Pinoy boxer Mark Anthony Barriga, who decisively trounced his first opponent in the Olympic ring, a much taller and huskier Italian. The match was not even a medal-winning one, only some kind of qualifier but see? Our people are rejoicing, as if the boy already got a gold medal.

***

But how can we blame them? There is a time-worn Filipino saying that “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”. So, in the team of non-winners, some of them, like the weightlifter, losing so shamefully, Barriga is the king. But let us continue hoping that he moves on after the next encounter, and the next, until he comes within sniffing distance of a medal. Never mind the color, just any medal with the Olympic logo will do.

***

Last night I got very distracted because the gymnastics competition was on TV and my! the girls all performed beautifully. One can hardly imagine what the human body can accomplish. Some looked as if they were flying in the air, some were able to do contortions that seemed unimaginable, others were taking such breathtaking risks on the balance beams or on the poles, so limber, so fearless, their feats so heartstopping!

***

The wonder is that many of them were so young and innocent-looking, just like babes, one imagines that they had no idea of the risks they were taking. Because a bad fall could have maimed them for life, ending any ambitions they may have for their failure. It must have been a Herculean task to judge them, but when the scores came out, it was the American girl who came in first. And I agree with the choice, she really hard a great variety of moves not performed or perfected by the others.

***

But some were also unlucky. After a wonderful start, two or three suffered trips or awkward landings that must have decimated their points. It was really a fair judging – the United States placed first and fourth, and Russia got second and third places. Do we have any potentials in our country who can match them? It was also gratifying that the awarding came immediately after. The gold medal winner from the U.S. looked like a sister of American first lady Michelle Obama, by the way. The two Russian girls, however, continued to look crestfallen, maybe they didn't think the silver and gold were good enough to bring home. They do not know any of those would have sent our people into hysterics. By the way, the Americans in the audience sounded hysterical, too.

***

I am dismayed to hear, though, that there are plans to continue sending the disgraced weightlifter back to the next Olympics. Do we not have any prospects at all that we have to continue “recycling” our representatives? But maybe this is because our sports officials are also recycled, and want to always be where the action is, even if they have not proven much at all with their leadership. Poor Pinoys, we always have to make do with has-beens and so-sos.

***

But there is a politician who is trying, and quite successfully, too, to steal part of the Olympic show. And that is the Lord Mayor of London, to use the old term, who has been shocking or thrilling everyone with his pronouncements. Even his name sounds like that of a comedian, you see – Borris Johnson. Everytime he opens his mouth, and he likes to do so everywhere and anytime, he either dismays or amazes his people. He was criticized for what he said about beach volleyball, but I agree with him. What did he say? He described the players as “half-naked females glistening like wet otters.”

***

They may call Borris Johnson sexist as well as racist, but I have always thought the same about the so-called beach (away from any beach, at that) volleyball which seems to be just an excuse to have a display of female pulchritude, or lack of it sometimes. Why is that beach volleyball for men does not require the players to be “semi-naked and glistening like wet otters”? Unfair, unfair. But perhaps some of those female players are also exhibitionists, so let them be.*

back to top