How the Philippines Achieved Its Best Olympics After Nearly 100 Years

For the first time since the Philippines joined the Olympics nearly 100 years ago, its national anthem played during the medal ceremony for weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who brought home the country’s very first gold medal last week.

To say it was a proud moment for sports-crazed Filipinos is an understatement. It was more of a historical triumph witnessed in real time and etched into the collective memory of Filipinos.

“This is the best Olympics for the Philippines because I went home with the gold medal that we have been aspiring to for 97 years,” Diaz told VICE World News in an interview. “We have proven that we Filipinos can win in the Olympics."

(snip)

But amazingly, the magic run continued, keeping Filipinos glued to livestreams of the games shared widely across social media, where they earned a virtual gold medal from Facebook for being the “loudest” country talking about the competitions on the platform.
Filipino athletes are now poised to take away at least four medals, the best at a single Olympic games since they bagged three in 1932.


https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aq495/philippines-best-olympics-tokyo