PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez and POC President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino agreed that a conscious effort should be made to retain and even enhance the model that resulted in the country’s first-ever gold medal at the Summer Games.

Ramirez said that they have to be serious if they would like to sustain the momentum of the Tokyo Olympics.

“Hindi lang pera ang kailangan, but as a sports educator who have travelled in other parts of the world, it is really extremely important that we will provide cutting-edge sports sciences which we dreamed here in the Philippine Sports Institute (PSI),” he added.

“Sa akin hindi lang pera ang kailangan. The government, listening from the success of the Tokyo Games, must put up this cutting-edge sports science or putting science in our own training, kasi kung wala ‘yan, mahirap i-achieve ‘yung goal sa Paris, sa LA (1928), sa Brisbane (1932),” he insisted.

Tolentino concurred with his PSC counterpart, recalling a visit to a Tokyo institution with full sports science and medical facilities.

Tolentino said that the POC is already discussing a program with its counterpart in Qatar, with a memorandum of agreement expected to be signed soon.

“Meron kaming naka-pending with the Qatar NOC na doon papadala ‘yung ibang atleta for training na andun lahat ‘yung sports medicine and sports facilities na high-tech,” he said. 

“It’s all free, parang exchange student, exchange athlete ‘yun.”