As we’ve been diving deep into Olympic coverage, we can’t forget to also give some shine to our Filipino brothers and sisters. Just like many Latin American countries, Philippines athletes qualify for summer sports more often than they do for winter ones. And because they don’t always have the largest delegations, they may be easily overlooked.
Our lechón-loving primos count boxing as one of their best Olympic events. (Though, we could have told you that even if we hadn’t looked at stats.) Since 1924, the Philippines has won nine olympic medals. As they get ready for the games in Rio, one of this year’s 13 athletes will look to become the first gold medal winner for Team P.I. Meet them below:
To read even more coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, click here.
1
Miguel Tabuena - Golf Men's Individual
2
Ian Lariba - Table Tennis
3
Eric Shauwn Cray - Men's 400m Hurdle
4
Marestella Sunang - Women's Long Jump
5
Jasmine Alkhadi - Women's 100m Freestyle
6
Jessie Lacuna - Men's 400m Freestyle
7
Kirstie Alora - Taekwondo
8
Rogen Ladon - Boxing
9
Charly Suarez - Boxing
10
Nestor Colonia - Weightlifting
11
Hidilyn Diaz - Weightlifiting
12
Mary Joy Tabal - Women's Marathon
13
Kodo Nakano - Judo