Meet Team PH for Tokyo Olympics

16 July 2021

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The Summer Olympic Games, often known as the Games of the Olympiad, a significant international multi-sport event conducted every four years. The first Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896, but it only began as a tradition in 1904. The International Olympic Committee or IOC is the one in-charge in organizing the Olympics and overseeing the preparations in the host city. Gold medals are given out for the first place, silver medals for the second place, and bronze medals for the third placers.

A total of nineteen countries have hosted the Summer Olympics across five continents. So far, ever since the tradition started, the Games was held four times in the United States (1904, 1932, 1984, and 1996), three times in Great Britain (1908, 1948, and 2012), twice in Greece (1896 and 2004), France (1900 and 1924), Germany (1936 and 1972), and Australia (1956 and 2000), and once in Sweden (1912), Belgium (1920), and Netherlands (1956 and 2000), Finland (1952), Italy (1960), Japan (1964), Mexico (1968), Canada (1976), Soviet Union (1980), South Korea (1988), Spain (1992), and China (2008).

After the most recent Summer Olympics that was made in Brazil (2016), the ICC chosen Tokyo, Japan, for the second time to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. It was initially set last March 2020, thus gaining its names Tokyo 2020, but due to the sudden global economic and health emergency caused by COVID-19 last year, the event is rescheduled for 2021.

Tokyo Olympic Games will run from July 23 until August 8, 2021 although Toshiro Muto, the CEO of Tokyo Olympics' organizing committee, said three days before the start of the event that they are not closing their doors in the possibility that the Games could still be canceled if the COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the country.

Meanwhile, here is the National Team that will join and aim for gold medal in the Olympic Games:

tokyo olympics 2020 lumina homes house and lot for sale

Team Philippines Tokyo Olympics 2020 Representatives

HIDILYN DIAZ (Weightlifting)

Hidilyn Diaz started her career in weightlifting when she joined the 2008 Summer Olympics for the women's 58-kg category and became the youngest contestant for the Games. After that, she was able to bag a bronze medal at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand and finished 10th in the 53-kilogram division at the 2006 Asian Games. She also won two golds and one silver in the Asian Youth/Junior Weightlifting Championship held in Jeonju, South Korea, when she was still a student at the Universidad de Zamboanga.

Diaz won a silver medal in the women's 53-kg weight division at the 2016 Summer Olympics, ending the Philippines' 20-year Olympic medal drought, and became the first woman from the country to collect all the colors of the Olympic medals.

CARLOS EDRIEL YULO (Artistic Gymnastics)

Carlos Yulo is a Filipino artistic gymnast who has won bronze and gold medals for the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. With his bronze medal finish on the floor exercise in 2018 and his first-ever gold medal on the same apparatus in 2019, he became the first Filipino and the first male Southeast Asian gymnast to win at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. As a result of all these incredible achievements, he qualified to represent the Philippines for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

ERNEST JOHN OBIENA (Athletics)

Ernest Obiena is the first Filipino pole vaulter to receive an International Athletic Association Federation scholarship (IAAF). He held the Philippine national record in pole vaulting with a height of 5.55 meters before breaking the Asian Athletics Championships record on April 29, 2016, during the 78th Singapore Open Championships in Kallang, Singapore. On April 21, 2019, he broke the Asian Athletics Championships record with 5.71 meters at the 23rd biennial meet in Doha, Qatar, earning him the desired gold medal. He is the current National Record holder, which he set in the same event.

KRISTINA KNOTT (Athletics)

Kristina Knott is a track and field athlete from the Philippines. She holds the national record for the women's 200 meters in the country.

EUMIR FELIX MARCIAL (Boxing)

Eumir Marcial earned gold medals for the Philippines at 2015, 2017, and 2019 Southeast Asian Games, as well as the 2011 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Astana. He is also a member of the Philippine Air Force.

CARLO PAALAM (Boxing)

Carlo Paalam is currently ranked number 12 in the Amateur International Boxing Association's men's flyweight class as of April 2021. He also has qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics and is slated to compete for the first time in July 2021. As of April 2021, he is one of six Filipino athletes who have qualified for the games. Paalam is a gold medalist, too, in the light flyweight division of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

NESTHY PETECIO (Boxing)

Nesthy Petecio is a Filipina boxer who rose to prominence after winning gold at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in 2019. She is ranked second in the Women's 57 kg. category by the Amateur International Boxing Association as of January 1, 2015.

IRISH MAGNO (Boxing)

Irish Magno participated in international amateur tournaments such as the Asian Games and the World Championships for the Philippines. She has also qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, making her the first female boxer from the country to do so.

YUKA SASO (Golf)

Yuka Saso is a Filipino professional golfer who earned the Philippines' first gold medal in Asian Games golf tournaments in both the women's individual and team events.

BIANCA PAGDANGANAN (Golf)

Bianca Pagdanganan won a bronze medal in the women's solo event, and a gold medal in the team event with Yuka Saso and Lois Kaye Go as an amateur at the 2018 Asian Games.

JUVIC PAGUNSAN (Golf)

Juvic Pagunsan competes in the Japan Golf Tour and the Asian Tour. He won the Asian Tour's Pertamina Indonesia President Invitational in 2007 and the Japan Golf Tour's Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open in 2021.

KURT BARBOSA (Taekwondo)

During his participation in the Philippine National Games, where he represented his native province, Kurt Barbosa was scouted for the Philippine national team. He became a part of the Philippine Taekwondo Association's grassroots program. Barbosa joined the national team in 2019 and was assigned to Carlos Padilla's coaching staff. Barbosa competed in the Southeast Asian Games 2019 in the Philippines. He earned a gold medal for the host delegation by defeating the men's -54 kg division in taekwondo.

MARGIELYN DIDAL (Skateboarding)

She is a Filipino professional street skateboarder who rose to prominence after winning a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games and competing in the X Games Minneapolis 2018.

JAYSON VALDEZ (Shooting)

He is a Filipino sports shooter who represented the Philippines in the 2010 and 2018 Asian Games. Valdez began his sporting shooting career in 2009 and has competed internationally for the Philippines. He was also a member of the Philippine National Shooting Association's National Youth Development Program.

ELREEN ANDO (Weightlifting)

Discovered by weightlifting coach Garry Toleno when she was still a junior high school student at the University of Cebu (UC), Ando qualified for the Olympics through a continental allocation after becoming Asia's top-ranked athlete on the International Weightlifting Federation's absolute ranking list for the women's -64kg event.

KIYOMI WATNABE (Judo)

She first represented the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2011 and on a gold medal for the Philippines in the women's 64 kg category at the 2013 Southeast Asian Games. She also took third place in the Asian Youth Judo Championships in Hainan, China, in 2013. Watanabe competed in the Paris Grand Slam in February 2016 to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and in the Asian Judo Senior's Championship in Uzbekistan in April of the same year. She finished the event in Paris as one of the top 16 judokas.

CRIS NIEVAREZ (Bowling)

Nievarez took part in the Southeast Asian Games 2019, which were held in the Philippines. He won gold in the men's lightweight single sculls event in 7 minutes and 34.27 seconds, beating off Thailand's Siripong Chaiwichitchonkul and Indonesia's Kakan Kusmana, who took silver and bronze, respectively.

LUKE GEBBIE (Swimming)

Gebbie took part in the FINA World Championships in South Korea this year. He set a new Philippine national record in the 100-meter freestyle with a timing of 49.94 seconds during the Gwangju event. In addition, he is the first Filipino to break the 50-second barrier in the race. He also competed in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines, where he represented the Philippines and won silver in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay and bronze in the men's 50-meter freestyle.

REMEDY RULE (Swimming)

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, she participated in the women's 50-meter freestyle. Her first competition for the Philippines was at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, when she clocked 1:00.42, breaking the Philippine national mark of 1:01.00 set by Jasmine Alkhaldi in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games Singapore. She will compete in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics alongside Luke Gebbie.

Lumina Homes salutes all our athletes in the Philippine Team who will compete for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Every Juan wishes them good luck and prays for their safety as they bring honor to our country amidst the pandemic.