TEOFILO YLDEFONSO, PRIDE OF PIDDIG

Lt. Teofilo Yldefonso, the Pride of Piddig, Ilocos Norte, Philippines, stands out in Philippine sports history as the first Filipino Olympic medalist and the only Filipino to repeat the feat. In fact, he is the only back-to-back Filipino Olympic medalist. He accomplished the rare feat at the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Olympics and at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, both in the 200-meter breaststroke.

The Philippines first participated in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. At the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics in the Netherlands, Yldefonso was only 25 when his 2:56.4 clocking wound up third best behind Yoshiyuki Tsuruta of Japan (2:48.8) and Erich Rademacher of Germany (2:50.6) in the 200-meter-breastsroke.

In 1932, at the Los Angeles Olympics, Yldefonso lowered his mark to 2:47.1 in the finals of the 200-meter breaststroke. But he still wound up third behind Tsuruta (2:45.4) and Reizo Koike (2:46.6), another Japanese.

The Philippines has participated in 16 Olympics since 1924. So far, the country has collected only 9 medals: 2 silver and 7 bronze. Yldefonso is the only repeat winner. The silver medalists are featherweight boxer Anthony Villanueva at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and light flyweight boxer Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Anthony Villanueva's father Jose, a bantamweight boxer, also won bronze at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Onyok Velasco's older brother Roel, also a light flyweight, bagged bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Yldefonso, the "Ilocano Shark," was born in Sitio Bayog, Bgy. 4, Bimmanga, Piddig, Ilocos Norte on November 4, 1903. Old folks remember that Yldefonso was just a small kid when he started swimming at the once-deep Guisit River in Piddig. It was in the town of Piddig that the young Yldefonso honed his swimming skills early on.

He was in his early 20s when he enlisted with the 57th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts. As a young soldier, he gained prominence as a competitive swimmer. Records show that during his brilliant swimming career, he has amassed 144 medals.

When World War II broke out in 1941, Lt. Teofilo Yldefonso joined the Filipino soldiers who gallantly fought against the Japanese invaders. When Bataan fell to the Japanese in 1942, he was among the thousands of Filipino and American soldiers who experienced the hardships and travails of the infamous Death March from Bataan to Capas, Tarlac.

He died at the Capas Concentration Camp on June 19, 1943 at the tender age of 40. His remains were nowhere to be found. But his legacy as a champion breaststroke swimmer and a war hero will live on forever.

The monument of Lt. Teofilo Yldefonso was unveiled at the Piddig Municipal Plaza last February 14, 2006.

FRONTLINERS ON THE GO: Black is Beautiful!

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Black is Beautiful!

The 2008 Beijing Olympics has spawned sports superstars. Standing high on the totem pole is Michael Phelps of the United States who won eight gold medals in swimming and burying in the process Mark Spitz' seven-gold medal haul in the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. But Phelps' overpowering dominance is insufficient to diminish the luster of another brilliant performance by an American athlete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Berlin was chosen to host the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. Nazism was then running rampant throughout pre-World War II Eastern Europe. The Berlin Olympics was the golden opportunity for Adolph Hitler to prove to the world the reality of the Master Race--the Aryans. The Berlin Olympics also gave the Nazis the perfect opportunity to show off to the world as 49 countries armed with their sophisticated media paraphernalia were competing. It was the perfect scenario for Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to browbeat.

The Nazi Germany team had trained full time, thus pushing to the limit the idea of amateur competition. Lutz Lang, a brilliant long jumper who easily fitted into the image of blond hair, blue-eyed Aryan racial superiority, was Germany's athletic superstar of the time.

Twenty-two year-old Jesse Owens of the United States, an African-American who was considered inferior to the athletes in the German team, was then the reigning athletic superstar. He didn't care much for Hitler's politics--or any politics for that matter! All he ever wanted was to show off his athletic prowess and represent America to the best of his abilities.

Hitler had earlier castigated the United States for sending the inferior African-Americans to the Games. In return, Owens made Hitler eat his words by running away with gold medals in four events: 100-meter dash, long jump, 200-meter dash, and 4 x 100-meter relay.

In the 100 meters, Owens edged out teammate Ralph Metcalfe in 10.3 seconds. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Usain Bolt of Jamaica set the 100m record in 9.69 seconds.

Owens' second gold came after he defeated Lutz Lang in a very close long jump final. Owens had fouled out on his first two attempts. Lang then approached Owens and suggested that the latter just play it safe and jump a few inches before the usual take-off spot. Owens heeded the German's advice and qualified for the finals. He went on to win the gold. Lang was the first to congratulate Owens when the long jump final was over.

"It took a lot of courage for Lutz Lang to befriend me in front of Hitler," Owens would later say. "You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Lutz Lang at that moment."

"The Americans should be ashamed of themselves, letting Negroes win their medals for them. I shall not shake hands with this Negro. Do you really think that I will allow myself to be photographed shaking hands with this Negro?"

Balder von Shirach claimed that Hitler had said this after the 100m victory of Jesse Owens.

Hitler refused to place the gold medal around Owens' neck.

Hitler abhorred the blacks and the Jews. He totally missed the idea that BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL!

One last word from Jesse Owens: "In the end, it's extra effort that separates a winner from second place. But winning takes a lot more than that, too. It starts with complete command of the fundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline, and self-sacrifice. And finally, it takes a great deal of love, fairness and respect for your fellow man. Put all these together, and even if you don't win, how can you lose?"