Philippine Team at 2008 Beijing Olympics- Team Philippine Performance

The Philippines competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country was represented by 15 athletes, who competed in 17 events across 8 sports.

The Philippine government and private sector pledged a combined sum of P15-million (US$340,909) for any athlete competing in the games who would win the country its first gold medal.[1] Though several national records were broken in swimming and weightlifting events, the country failed to win any medals for the third consecutive Olympiad.

Final Medal Tally

Philippine 2008 Olympians Performance:

ARCHERY:

Mark Javier

The Philippines was represented in the Men's individual archery event by Mark Javier, who earned his spot at the Olympics by winning the continental archery qualifiers in the 2007 Asian Archery Championships.[6] In the ranking round he placed 36th out of 64 competitors, then lost in his first knockout matchup against Kuo Cheng Wei of Chinese Taipei.

ATHLETHICS:

Marestella Torres

Henry Dagmil

The Philippines was represented in athletics by two long jumpers, Henry Dagmil and Marestella Torres. The two did not qualify to the games via the usual route, but were accepted as wild card entries by the International Olympic Committee upon the request of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association.[8]

Dagmil registered just one successful jump in the qualifying round, finishing with a result of 7.58 meters, and was ranked 34th out of 41 competitors.

Torres, who hoped to improve upon her personal best of 6.63 meters, injured her left knee while picking up speed before taking off for her first jump.[8] She finished the qualifying round with a result of 6.17 meters, and was ranked 35th out of 42 competitors.

BOXING:

Harry Tanamor

Though boxing has been the Philippines' traditional source of medals at the Olympics, the country's only representative for boxing at the Beijing Olympics was Harry Tañamor, who earned his spot at the games through his second place finish at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007. Tañamor was the only Filipino athlete predicted to win a medal inSports Illustrated's Olympic Preview issue, which tipped him to capture the silver. However, he was defeated by Manyo Plange of Ghana in the first matchup of the games.

DIVING:

Rexel Ryan Fabriga

 Sheila Mae Perez

The Philippines was represented in diving events by two athletes—Rexel Ryan Fabriga, who competed in the men's 10 meter platform, and Sheila Mae Perez, who competed in the women's 3 meter springboard. Neither diver advanced past the preliminary stage of the competition.

During practice in Xi'an weeks before the Olympic games, Fabriga suffered a waist injury that seriously hampered the pace of his training. Both he and his coach admitted that his performance in the games would inevitably be affected by the injury, with the possibility that he would be unable to finish his dive.In the preliminary stage of the competition, Fabriga's opening dive was the least impressive of the round, and he went on to finish the preliminaries in 28th place in a field of 30.

Perez finished her preliminary round at 23rd place in a field of 30 divers.

SHOOTING:

The Philippines was represented in trap shooting by 37 year-old Eric Ang, the team's oldest competing athlete. Ang narrowly failed to make the Olympic qualifying standard, but was able to compete as a wild card contestant.

Ang got off to a poor start in the qualifying round, shooting only 19 in the first string and ending the first day of qualifications ranked 30th of 35. He did not improve on the second day, and finished the event in last place.

SWIMMING:

Daniel Coakley

Ryan Paolo Aravejo

Miguel Molina

James Walsh

Christel Simms

The Philippine swimming team had the largest share of the country's athletes represented in Beijing, with five swimmers competing in seven events.

Though no Philippine swimmer advanced past the preliminary round of their respective events, several national swimming records were broken at the games: Miguel Molina completed themen's 200 m individual medley in 2:01.61, Christel Simms completed the women's 100 m freestyle in 56.67, JB Walsh completed the men's 200 m butterfly in 1:59.39 and won his heat but didn't move on, and Daniel Coakley completed the men's 50 m freestyle in 22.69. Walsh's and Coakley's achievements are also Southeast Asian records.

TAEKWANDO:

Tshomlee Go

Mary Antoinette Rivero

The Philippines was represented by two taekwondo practitioners, Tshomlee Go and Mary Antoinette Rivero, both of whom had previously competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Tshomlee Go's first matchup was against Ryan Carneli of Australia, who Go had narrowly defeated at the 2007 World Taekwondo Championships. Go failed to register any points in the match, losing in a 1-0 shutout. Mary Antoinette Rivero also lost in her first match, against Sandra Šarić of Croatia.

WEIGHTLIFTING:

Hidilyn Diaz

Hidilyn Diaz was selected as a wild card entry to the Summer Olympics by the Philippine Weightlifting Association in early 2008. She is the first female weightlifter to compete for the Philippines in the Olympics, and the second weightlifter overall.[20] Competing in the women's 58 kg class, 17 year-old Diaz lifted 85 kg in the snatch and 107 kg in the clean and jerk for a 192 kg total, breaking the Philippine record that she herself set at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games. Though she placed second to last in a field of 12 weightlifters, her performance was praised and considered promising for her age. Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez said "She's here to gain valuable experience", and predicted that she would be a strong contender at future games. She is set to undergo an extensive training program to prepare her for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.