New website introduces past, present Filipino Olympians

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Philippine Olympians Association (POA) joined forces to set in motion a website that aims to tell stories of past and present Filipino athletes that competed in the Olympics.

Titled "The Living Archive of Olympians PH," the website specifies the year when an Olympian competed in the quadrennial meet, including the Winter, Summer, and Youth Olympics.

Upon clicking the photo of an Olympian, readers will be directed to a profile where related information like birthday, hometown, and records can be found.

According to POA president and former Olympian Akiko Thomson, launching the website serves as their passion and legacy project in helping tell the stories of Filipino athletes that brought and are bringing pride to the country.

"I think this project is a beautiful example of collaboration amongst  stakeholders in sports in a very meaningful and impactful way," Thomson, a multi-awarded swimmer, said in a press conference Wednesday.

"We at the POA were looking for information about our Olympians and so we reached out to the PSC, we reached out to the POC only to find out that they didn't have the information."

Due to the limited information, Thomson and the POA had to reach out to the Olympics Studies Centre where all information on anything Olympics can be traced.

Thomson also shared that at least 400 Filipino Olympians can be browsed on the website and said they call it "living archives" as it will be updated with  more athletes qualifying.

"We started this early last year. It was a year-long project but the hardest part was finding pictures for the older ones. Truth be told, we don't know how many Olympians are still living," Thomson said.

The launching of the website came just days before the kickoff of the Tokyo Olympics where 17 Filipinos have qualified as of press time.

—MGP, GMA News