Olympedia – Philippines (PHI) (original) (raw)

The Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation was formed in January 1911, when the country was still under American occupation. This organization, which later became the National Olympic Committee, was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1929. The Philippines first competed at the Olympic Games in 1924, and it has since missed only the 1980 Moskva Olympics.

The Philippines has won 14 Olympic medals in boxing, swimming, track & field athletics, and weightlifting. Until 2020, the country had not yet won a gold medal, and was, from 2008-2015, the nation with the most medals without an Olympic title, since surpassed by Malaysia, with 13 medals. However, Arianne Cerdeña won the women’s bowling event in that exhibition sport at the 1988 Olympics, and Willy Wang won the 2008 men’s Wushu Nanquan & Nangun demonstration event.

At Tokyo 2020, female weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the nation’s first true gold medal ever, in the featherweight class. Diaz had already won a silver medal in the same weight class four years earlier. The only other Philippine athlete with two medals is swimmer Teófilo Yldefonso, who won two bronzes from 1928-1932.

The Philippines has competed at the Olympic Winter Games in 1972, 1988, 1992, 2014, 2018, and 2022 (in Alpine skiing, figure skating, and luge). The Philippines has had six Winter Olympians, all men. Until 2020, Michael Christian Martinez was the only Filipino to compete at two Olympic Winter Games, appearing in men’s figure skating in 2014 and 2018, achieving the nation’s top Winter Olympic finish when he placed 19th in 2014. In 2022, Alpine skier Asa Miller became the Philippines second Winter Olympian with more than one appearance at the Olympics, having previously competed in 2018.

Includes medals won as part of mixed teams.