I have to admit. I haven’t watched a single Winter Olympics event before this year. This year when, surprise, a tropical country that does not experience a winter season, has a representative in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. A representative. One.
The Philippines has joined in past Winter Olympics… more than a decade ago. This year we have our first ever representative in the men’s figure skating events: Michael Christian Martinez. First Filipino, first Southeast Asian, youngest male figure skater, and our country’s only hope for a medal.
Having a representative there made me interested in watching this year’s ceremonies. I stayed up late to watch the magnificence and extravagance (and much buzzed about technical failure of the Olympic rings) of the opening ceremonies. I luboved it. (Hah!)
I stayed up late to watch the short program event. He was an absolute joy to watch. I’m not really familiar with all the elements, but I really enjoyed the theatricality and the drama, which suited the Romeo & Juliet music really well. The commentators said that it was a good debut for the first Philippine representative. And for a brief moment, we got to enjoy his 3rd placement, and was so proud that he qualified for the free skate quite early. (He ultimately dwindled down to 19th, but he’s qualified already, so whatevs.)
Amid the US’s Jeremy Abbott’s shocking fall, Russia’s Evgeny Plushenko withdrawing (for a back injury, I think?), and the Asians hogging the medal podium (yey!), the men’s figure skating event made for exciting TV viewing.
For the free skate event, while most everybody was pulling out his quadruple axels and level 4 spins (yes! I learned some figure skating terms!), Michael had a relatively less complex routine, only settling with as much as 3 spins, though he had what looked like very difficult spins. He also did that Frick & Frack move (the cantilever spread) and the Bielmann (more terms!).
I’m imagining that maybe, just maybe, Michael will be at their level already when the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. I hope that we send more representatives in 4 years’ time.
We may not have a winter season, but we were represented in men’s alpine skiing and luge events decades ago. I don’t think it’s realistic that we send representatives to slope events, but I think we can send a few more people to indoor events, like figure skating or speed skating. Of course, I would expect that Michael return to the men’s figure skating event. If we could make up a team for the team skating event, then that would be even greater. Oh, and curling. Definitely, curling.
I’m watching the closing ceremonies as I write this, but I’m definitely already looking forward to Rio 2016 (because we do have summer, I’m sure we’re sending athletes) and Pyeongchang 2018.
What are you looking forward to in future Olympics? Do you also want to see the Philippines have a curling team?
