As Filipino athletes compete on the world stage in Paris, they carry the hopes and dreams of a nation, striving for greatness, hopeful and bullish for Olympic glory.
Twenty-two Filipino athletes are set to compete for national pride and glory at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.
This year’s delegation is the largest the Philippines has sent to the Olympics since Barcelona 1992, marking the 100th anniversary of the nation’s participation in the world’s greatest sporting spectacle.
These chosen few represent nine sports—weightlifting, gymnastics, rowing, fencing, swimming, judo, golf, boxing, and athletics. Some have earned their spots through outstanding performances in international competitions, while others made the cut through their world federations’ rankings.
As they compete on the world stage in Paris, they carry the hopes and dreams of a nation, striving for greatness, hopeful and bullish for Olympic glory.
Here are our Filipino athletes to watch as they aim for Olympic medals from July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France.
Athletics
EJ Obiena (Men’s Pole Vault)
Arguably, one of the the country’s best bets at bagging a gold medal in Paris, Obiena qualified for the Olympics after clearing 5.82 meters in the BAUHAUS-Galan leg of the Diamond League in Stockholm last July.
The Asian record holder will look to continue his fine form in the hopes of bagging the country’s second gold medal in the Olympics, following in the footsteps of Hidilyn Diaz in Tokyo three years ago.
Ranked second in the world in the men’s pole vault, EJ Obiena continues to set new records. He holds both national and Asian records and is the first Filipino athlete to receive a scholarship from the International Athletic Association Federation (IAAF).
Lauren Hoffman
(Women’s 400m Hurdles)
Hoffman made the cut as she ranks 39th in the final Olympic Qualifying Ranking released by the World Athletics. The daughter of a Filipina from Puerto Galera, Hoffman is the national record holder, clocking 55.72s at the 114th Drake Relays in April 2024. She is a two-time top-eight finisher at the Asian Games and a two-time national champion. Hoffman began representing the Philippines in October 2023.
John Cabang Tolentino
(Men’s 110m Hurdles)
Tolentino holds the national record at 13.37s, achieved at the 2024 ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships. The Filipino-Spanish athlete is a national champion and has ranked within the top eight of the Asian Games and the Asian Championships, also winning championships in Spain. The 2023 Cambodia Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist ranks 30th in the Olympic Qualification Ranking by World Athletics.
Gymnastics
Carlos Yulo
Regarded as the most successful Filipino gymnast of all time, Carlos Yulo is a six-time world championship medalist, a 10-time Asian champion, and a nine-time SEA Games champion.
He is also the first Filipino and male Southeast Asian gymnast to win a medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. In Tokyo in 2020, he finished fourth in the vault finals.
Carlos’ younger siblings, Karl Jahrel and Elaiza Andriel, are gymnasts, while his older sister, Joriel, was part of the National University Pep Squad.
He began training for gymnastics at age seven after watching Filipino gymnasts at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in his hometown of Malate, Manila.
Aleah Finnegan
Filipino-American artistic gymnast Aleah Finnegan began representing the Philippines internationally in 2022. She previously competed for the United States, winning gold at the 2019 Pan American Games. With the Philippine national team, she won bronze in the vault and balance beam at the 2023 Asian Championships and gold at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games.
Levi Jung-Ruivivar
Los Angeles native Levi Jung-Ruivivar qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics after earning enough points at the 2024 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series. The Filipino-American artistic gymnast began representing the Philippines in 2023, after competing with the US national team from 2021 to 2023.
In the NCAA, Jung-Ruivivar competes for the Stanford Cardinal, the athletic teams of Stanford University, which holds the record for the most NCAA team championships with 136.
Emma Malabuyo
Emma Malabuyo qualified for the Paris Games after placing third in Women’s Individual All Around at the 11th Senior Women Artistic Gymnastics. She was a five-time US national team member and decided to represent the Philippines in 2023, debuting at the 2023 Asian Championships where she helped the Philippine team to a fifth-place finish, won silver for floor exercise, and placed fifth in the balance beam.
Boxing
Nesthy Petecio (Women’s -57kg)
Petecio gets another crack for a gold medal in the women’s -57kg in the boxing competition. She became the first Filipina Olympic medalist in boxing, bagging silver in Tokyo 2020, and hopes to clinch gold this time. She’s the sixth Philippine athlete to qualify for the Paris Olympics after defeating Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey in the semifinals of the first World Qualifying in Italy last March.
From Davao del Sur, Petecio used boxing to help her family financially.
She began young, earning her big break at 11 when she knocked out a larger male opponent, catching the attention of Philippine women’s team coach Roel Velasco.
Aira Villegas (Women’s 50kg)
Villegas punched her ticket to Paris 2024 after defeating Bulgaria’s Zlatislava Chukanova in the women’s 50 kg category at the 1st World Qualification Tournament in Italy. She previously competed in the 2022 Asian Games and secured the bronze at the 2019 SEA Games.
Carlo Paalam (Men’s 57kg)
Paalam hopes to win another medal, hopefully gold, after nailing the silver in Tokyo 2020. He qualified for Paris 2024 after a unanimous decision win over Sachin Siwach of India in the men’s 57kg semifinals of the 2024 Boxing 2nd World Qualification Tournament in Bangkok
Discovered through local matches, he joined the national team in 2013 and won gold at the 2019 SEA Games. Paalam is moving up in weight from 54 kilograms. He won the gold in the 2023 Cambodia Southeast Asian Games.
Eumir Marcial
(Super-Middleweight)
After his bronze feat at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Marcial aims for a better finish in Paris 2024, competing in the super-middleweight division this time. The Zamboangeño boxer is signed as a professional boxer under MP Promotions, led by boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
Hergie Bacyadan
Before boxing, Igorot pride Hergie Bacyadan excelled in wushu and vovinam (Vietnamese martial arts), winning medals in various international competitions. She was the fifth and last Filipino boxer to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics after defeating Venezuelan Yriza Maryelis in the quarterfinals at the 2024 Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament 2 in Bangkok, Thailand.
As a wushu artist, she bagged silver medals in the Sanda Asian Cup in 2017 and the 2017 World Wushu Championships in Kazan.
She became the first Filipina vovinam world champion in 2023 in the women’s combat 66kg division. At the same year she grabbed silver in the same event at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia.
She debuted internationally at the 2019 ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Bangkok where she bagged a bronze.
Fencing
Samantha Catantan
Catantan’s Paris 2024 qualification ended the Philippines’ 32-year Olympic drought in fencing. She won the women’s foil category at the Asia-Oceania Zonal Olympic Qualifier in Fujairah, UAE, despite a left knee injury. A Penn State University student, Catantan was a standout in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines, playing for the University of the East juniors team and being named MVP in Season 82.
Golf
Bianca Pagdanganan
Born and raised in the Philippines, Bianca Pagdanganan’s golfing career includes national competitions, collegiate play for Gonzaga University and the University of Arizona, and international representation for the Philippines. She won medals at the 2018 Asian Games and the 2019 SEA Games and turned pro in 2020.
Dottie Ardina
Ardina will make her Olympic debut in Paris, representing the Philippines in women’s golf. The 30-year-old previously qualified for Rio 2016, but declined due to the Zika virus threat. At 12 years old, Ardina set a record as the youngest golfer to compete at the 2006 World Amateur Team Championships. She turned pro in 2013 and has three professional wins.
Judo
Kiyomi Watanabe
Japanese-Filipino judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, the Tokyo 2020 flagbearer for the Philippines, returns to the Olympics to compete in the 63-kg category. Born in Cebu to a Filipina mother and a Japanese father, Watanabe is a four-time SEA Games champion and a silver medalist at the Asian Games. She earned a degree in Sports Science from Waseda University in Tokyo.
Rowing
Joanie Delgaco
Delgaco is the first Filipina to qualify for the Olympics in rowing after placing 4th in the Final A in Rowing Asian Oceanian Olympic Qualification in Chungju, South Korea. A native of Iriga, Camarines Sur, the 26-year-old is the fourth Filipino rower to reach the Olympics. Cris Nievarez participated in Tokyo 2020, ending a 20-year drought for the Philippines in rowing.
Swimming
Jarod Hatch
(Men’s 100m Butterfly)
Hatch has been a member of the Philippine national team since 2018 and made the cut in the men’s 100m butterfly. He took a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2019 SEA Games. After retiring in 2021, Hatch returned in 2022, winning three medals at the 2023 SEA Games and setting a Philippine record in the 100m butterfly at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
Kayla Sanchez
(Women’s 100m Freestyle)
Filipino-Canadian swimmer Kayla Sanchez is a two-time Olympian, having competed in Tokyo 2020 for Canada and bagging silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay. She began representing the Philippines in 2022, aiming to inspire more Filipinos to take up swimming. Sanchez comes into the Olympics as the national record holder in the 50m freestyle at 25.28 and the 100m freestyle at 54.25.
Weightlifting
Elreen Ando
Holding national records in the 59-kg and 64-kg categories, Ando qualified for Paris 2024 after finishing seventh at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Cup in Phuket, Thailand. Ando has won medals at the Asian Games, Asian Championships, and SEA Games.
Ando outranked Filipino Olympic Gold Medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo in second place for the Philippines and the Cebuana earned the slot since only one athlete per country and category will qualify for the Olympics.
Vanessa Sarno
An Asian Junior Weighlifting and SEA Games gold medalist, Vanessa Sarno holds national records in the 71kg and 76kg categories. She qualified for Paris 2024 after a stellar performance at the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand. A native of Tagbilaran, Bohol, Sarno took up weightlifting after seeing her cousins train and was influenced by her father, a former powerlifter.
John Ceniza
Cebuano weightlifter John Ceniza qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics after placing 4th overall and getting his personal best of 300kg total lift in the International Weightlifting Federation World Cup 2024 in Phuket, Thailand.
He holds national records in the 55-kg and 640kg categories and has clinched two silvers at the SEA Games (2019, 2023) and a bronze at the 2020 IWF World Cup in Rome.
