In the recent Southeast Asian Games, the only medal that matters is the gold
medal.
The gold medal represents the years of training and
sacrifice every athlete goes into just to represent the flag and country.
Filipino world windsurfing champion(RS class) , Geylord “Evang” Coveta
, who once served as the country’s flag-bearer in the 2014 Asian Games, settled
for a sure gold medal finish. An article for the Interaksyon website and story
of Chrys Fernandez chronicled the
campaign of Coveta’ and explains why the silver medal; still felt like a golden
feat.
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| Filipino windsurfing athlete, Geylord "Evang" Coveta won the "silver medal" in the men's windsurfing event in the just concluded 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia (photo credit interaksyon website) |
Full quoted article is copied below:
No. This isn’t some feel good post about coming in second being
good enough because we tried really hard. It’s also not bemoaning any poor
officiating that robbed us of a win. No. We came home with the silver and the
Thai sailor won the gold fair and square and we salute him for his achievement.
But there’s a little back story to this piece of silver metal
we’re bringing home from the recent SEA Games. Something that we thought was
worth sharing in this day and age where a ‘win-at-all-cost’ and an ‘us-vs-them’
mentality prevails.
Through the first three days of sailing from Wednesday to
Friday, Evang had built up a good lead over his competitors. Three first place
finishes in six races had him five points ahead of the pack. Thailand was
close, but Evang was sailing confidently and those of us who were following the
daily updates from the team were allowing ourselves to smell a whiff of
potential gold.
Then on Saturday came a little slip. On the first and only race
of the day (Race No.7), Evang turned the wrong way on a buoy. Now, this doesn’t
mean he sailed a shorter course than his rivals as it was just the wrong way
around the buoy, but rules are rules and it was an infraction that could
invalidate his results for that race if any team protested. He ended up
finishing first in that race, and in what was becoming a tight contest with
Thailand for the top spot, he truly needed those points. *
In fact, with only one day of racing left on Sunday, a gold
medal would have been almost a sure thing if the results from Race No.7 stood.
But the other teams had an hour-long window after Saturday’s only race to
protest the wrong turn and invalidate Evang’s points for a first-place finish.
Except — no one did!
After years of hard training and sacrifice, with the gold medal
within your grasp and the rule books in your favor – a lesser man would have
just seized that good break and take the easier route to the top of the podium.
But this was what we found out clearly and unequivocally in the Games – Evang
is NOT that lesser man.
After a quick consultation with the team coaches, Evang went up
to the Games officials to report his wrong turn in Race No.7, thus invalidating
his much needed points for his first-place finish there. Even if this meant that,
all of a sudden, he had no lead and had no points cushion to ensure a gold
medal win. Without those points it was all going to come down to Sunday’s race.
We wish we could report a Cinderella ending but on that Sunday,
the man from Thailand was just the better sailor, edging out Evang for the top
spot at the podium. But we know the small act of integrity that swayed the
results — but showed his true character, and we thought you should know too. *
Yes, he came home with “only” the silver on his chest. But we
know that inside — he’s got a gold medal heart.
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