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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Manny Pacquiao carries the Philippine flag for Olympic ceremony…great idea…right?

Manny Pacquiao is a dynamo, arguably the best boxer in the history of the Philippines. Fame and fortune have been Manny’s rewards for hard work and determination. Clearly an example of how one can realize one’s dreams by taking advantage of every opportunity and pushing past adversity. Congratulations and adulation are definitely in order.

The president of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, had an idea. Why not let Manny Pacquiao carry the country's flag in the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games being held in Beijing.

Great idea…right?







After waiting some considerable time for the Philippine Olympic contenders to make their historic walk of nations, an image of a man entering the stadium carrying a familiar flag came into focus. Sure enough, Manny Pacquiao, carrying the Philippine flag and wearing his now famous ear to ear grin walked into the camera’s view. The camera zoomed in for a close-up of Manny while the announcer recounted Manny’s boxing accomplishments also managing to mention that Pacquiao will not actually be competing in the games.

Great idea…right?

Right after giving us this insight into the accomplishments of the Philippines greatest boxer, the time usually allotted to showing the world each countries Olympic contingency was eaten up. All those athletes that have worked so hard to get to Beijing were never seen by their countrymen, friends, and families. We were left with a brief panning shot of blurry blue outfits while the camera looked for the next countries contingency. Needless to say, the Philippines political contingency was also absent a courtesy shot though not all the various countries leaders got one.

All of the Olympic competitions are not aired. Usually only certain matches in each competition will be broadcast to the world. This being the case, the opening ceremonies were the only chance many of these athletes will ever have to be seen and be recognized. I for one would have liked to see the faces of the Filipino Olympians who worked so hard to get to the Olympic Games. Being held only once every four years, many of these champions will never experience Olympic glory again.

Great idea…right?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

couldn't agree more!

ssgreylord said...

What a total bummer... it must of been so disappointing for you and your fellow countrymen. I'm sorry you all (especially the athletes) were short-changed!

Jack Payne said...

Unfortunately, the bigger countries get all the play on TV in the Olympics. I've been wondering how Manny is doing, but haven't been able to learn much.

David Tamayo said...

Thanks Michy, I appreciate the vote of agreement. I was wondering if I was the only one that noticed. =0)

To ssgreylord (I love that name, so powerful =0)) "Short changed" is the perfect description.

To Jack Payne, yes you are right. Larger countries do tend to steal the limelight, the Philippines got it's opportunity to showcase it's athletes but the time was squandered. If you are looking for news and info about Manny, just click on his name and you will be directed to a site containing a plethora of info.

Thanks for the comments. Take care my friends. =0)

scatterhaiku said...

i agree with you here. i do appreciate all that mr. pacquiao has done for the country. but i also feel that he has already received much acclaim worldwide, and it was unfortunate that his presence at the olympics took the focus away from philippine olympians. i'm sure he didn't mean for that to happen. but again, this was an unfortunate circumstance.

FANCY said...

Her we are in different worlds look into the same OS that I think is magic...and a little technique ;P

Anonymous said...

i couldn't agree more, kakasawa na mukha ni pacquiao, pakyaw na talaga.

Curtis W. Jackson said...

Hello,
You might be interested in what I said about the Olympics on my blogger site, Curtis On The News:
http://curtisonthenews.blogspot.com/
Please feel free to a site search with the word, Olympics. There is also an updating image feed of the event.

tashabud said...

I didn't watch any olympic games because I was either working or sleeping. However, I share your sentiments. With what you're saying in your post, it appears that Manny and President Arroyo robbed the Filipino Olypians off their rightful place of glory to represent their country. That's very unfortunate.
Tasha