I have to admit, the botchi gold medal is a good way to integrate Chowking with the Olympics. I am a writer, so I felt this copy is forced as compared to what Goldilocks did, I thought the effort was there.
Anyway, I tried to look for that old "si Nonoy naka-gold" commercial. I forgot who made it, and I am punching my forehead in frustration, but apart from the Milo commercials and Von Vivar's Enervon Winning Moments interstitials, that track and field-centered ad is one of the most iconic television commercials in Philippine sports history...
... THAT FOR SOME REASON, I CAN'T REMEMBER!!!
Ahem.
Here are a bunch of '90s commercials as proof that I indeed tried to search for it on YouTube.
Anyway, apart from the congratulatory plugs, social media posters, online statements, and memes, the Paris Olympics have shown us Filipinos that we are building our reputation of going for medals.
Yes, Armand Duplantis, Simone Biles, Lydia Ko, Lin Yu Ting, and even Team USA are still favored over EJ Obiena, Levi Jung-Ruivivar, Bianca Pagdanganan, Nesthy Petecio, and Gilas Pilipinas, but our sports programs have improved leaps and bounds since I guess the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noynoy Aquino administrations.
No, I am not hating on the former presidents here. I am just checking out the timeline. After Onyok Velasco won the silver medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, it took the country 20 years to find our next podium finisher. And from 2000 to 2012, the delegation averaged 15.5.
The 2012 Olympics is the worst, with only Mark Anthony Barriga as the boxing participant. There were eleven competitors in eight sports and all of them, including a young Hidilyn Diaz, failed to advance past the elimination round.
In 2016, the delegation increased to 13, but at least some of the athletes won and advanced to the next round. Boxer Roger Ladon won one before losing his next fight while taekwondo jin Kirstie Alora fought two fights. Of course, the delegation was saved by Hidilyn, who went home with a silver medal in 53kg weightlifting.
Hidilyn also returned to an abundance of treats, and the win jumpstarted the outpour of incentives.
And I guess we'll see many athletes munching on free food alongside accommodations.
The only reason why I'm not too fond of this is because it might tempt them to get spoiled. I get that Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas might be looking to retire after their wins, but Carlos Yulo needs to milk every inch of his 20s to become the country's first back-to-back Olympiad gold medal winner.
That said, they deserve every bit of positive life-changing events they get.