On June 1932, the Philippine line-up made headlines with the announcement of the 8 athletes for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Making it to the list were 4 boxers, 3 swimmers, and only one field event athlete. The Olympic hero and corporal was joined by 2 rising Muslim swimmers, 100 m. freestyler Abdurahman Ali and the young Jikirum Adjaluddin, who, like Yldefonso was a 200 m. breaststroke specialist. The Philippine contingent embarked that same month for the United States to start their new quest for glory. They were among the first national athletes to reach Los Angeles, arriving there on the 1st week of July, headed by Prof. Candido Bartolome, head of delegation and coach, Joaquin Alviar, assistant coach.
Hopes were high when the Olympics unfolded in Los
Angeles (Jul. 30-Aug. 14, 1932), where the games were “dedicated to the
principles and ideals of modern Olympism”. The finals were held at the open
Swimming Stadium, with 12,000 people in attendance, beginning with the
preliminary heats. Filipino swimmer Ali placed third in his heats and
was immediately eliminated. But it was dfferent in the 200 m. breaststroke
events where two Filipinos were fielded—Yldefonso and Adjaluddin.
The trials consisted of 4 heats where the first 2 fastest, plus the fastest 3rd automatically advanced to the Semifinals. Yldefonso topped Heat 3 with a time of 2:53.7 minutes, but Adjaluddin fared much better in Heat 1 with a time of 2: 49.9 minutes, placing 2nd to Yoshiyuki Tsuruta. However, Tsuruta, the current Olympic record holder ,had lost the Far Eastern Games gold to Yldefonso in 1930.
The 2 Filipinos breezed through to the 2 semifinal heats with the first 3 moving on to the Finals. Both heats produced surprising results: Tsuruta, in Heat 1, was beaten by fellow Japanese, Reizo Koike. Germany’s Erwin Sietas, whom Yldefonso had relegated to 4th place in the 1928 Olympics, topped Heat 2. Five Asians (3 Japanese, 2 Filipinos) and one European (German) thus, constituted the Finals of the 200 m. breaststroke.
Before a cheering, screaming crowd, the Japanese secured a 1-2 finish with Tsuruta duplicating his Gold medal finish (2:45.4 mins.) in 1928, followed by Koike (2:46.6 mins.). Yldefonso was a close 3rd with an improved time of 2:47.1 mins. Sietas, again remained medal-less in 4th . The other Filipino, Adjaluddin acquitted himself in his Olympic debut by placing 5th. With his second Bronze, Yldefonso secured another place in history as the first Filipino to score a back-to-back medal finish in the same event, in 2 successive Olympics, a feat boxer Nesthy Petecio would repeat only in 2024, after 92 years!
Going for a
Three-peat in Berlin
Yldefonso was the toast of the country upon his return. Of the 3 Filipino medalists who brought home Bronzes from Los Angeles, his star shone the brightest. The corporal was given a Dinner-Dance tribute in October 1932 led by Capt. E.U.O. Waters, his company commander , at the 57th Inf. Barracks, for bringing pride and honor to his Company “A”. The formal event was graced by the guests of honor: Commanding Officer Col. Howard C. Price; and ranking officer like the Batallion Commander Maj. Collins, Plans and Training Officer Maj. Gunnar Mortensen, and of course, the Yldefonso Family.
In the next few years, Yldefonso continued to stamp his dominance in swimming when, in the 1933 Philippine-Formosa Dual Meet, he emerged again as the Gold medalist in the 200 m. breaststroke event. This was followed by another Gold at the Philippine National Championships, and a final Gold for his pet 200 m. breaststroke event at the last Far Eastern Games held in Manila in 1934.
The Australia Swimming Association invited Yldefonso in November 1935 to participate in a series of swim meets in Melbourne in February 1936, but he was already deep in training. In 1935, Yldefonso accomplished the unthinkable by establishing new National Records for the 100 m. breaststroke , clocking in first with an impressive time of 1 :16 mins. He reset the 200 m. breaststroke time, cutting it down to 2 mins 45 secs. flat. Everybody knew he was a shoo-in for the 1936 Olympic team that was set to be held in Berlin.
The Philippine team that was finally assembled for the Olympic year was the biggest ever—30 athletes to compete in 20 events. Aside from Yldefonso and Adjaluddin, the swimming team was boosted with 3 more additions: Arsad Alpad, Jose Obial, and Nils Christiansen.
Off to a good start, all swimmers—saved for Obial—cleared their first heats for the semifinal round. But only Yldefonso reached the Finals of the 200 m. breaststroke event with a time of 2:46.8 mins. By now, Yldefonso was a 33 year-old husband and a father.
In the finals, watched by Adolph Hitler from the bleachers, Yldefonso faltered and slowed down to 2:51.1 mins., placing 7th and last. New Japanese star Tetsuo Hamuro grabbed the Gold in Olympic record time, followed by Erwin Sietas and Reizo Koike, 2 swimmers whom Yldefonso had beaten in the past. The Philippine team came home from their Olympic debacle with just one medal to show, a Bronze from hurdler Miguel White. With that, came to a close Yldefonso’s amazing run in 3 World Olympics.
Post-Olympics
and His Final Lap
After his return from the Olympics, Yldefonso got back to the swing of things at his camp. He and other Olympic players were invited to perform public exhibition swims at the Rizal Memorial pool, and toured nearby towns like Angeles, Pampanga during fiestas. After the hoopla, Yldefonso turned to the more serious business of raising his growing family of 6 children: Porfirio, Emilio, Felipe, Norma, Herminia, and Carmelito.
In 1937, he participated in another edition of Philippine-Formosa
Dual Meet where he won double Golds for his 100 m. and 200 m.
breaststroke events without a cinch. This would be his final competitive
appearance. News reports in 1939 also confirmed that the “old reliable” was
training for that year’s dual meet in Manila, but no follow-up news confirmed
his actual participation.
Japan was supposed to host the next 1938 Far Eastern Championship Games, but troubles brewed when the country invaded Manchuria that turned into another serious Sino-Japanese War. Japan had also won the bid for the 1940 Olympics. With the worldwide condemnation of Japanese forces in Manchuria, and with the U.S. calling for the boycott of the 1940 Tokyo, the Japan government decided to scrap both events. In fact, even the 1944 Olympics was cancelled, all because of a terrible war was looming in the Pacific horizon.
By the late 30s, the war that had spread and ravaged Europe had escalated into a World War with the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan in 1941. With the U.S. declaring war, it was just a matter of days before the Philippines, a U.S. territory, was attacked.
Yldefonso’s 57th Infantry Regiment (Philippine Scouts) were called to action to man the Abucay-Mauban line in Bataan, which was critical to the defense of the Philippines as it was a major point of entry for the Japanese. After a valiant stand, the Fil-Am forces—exhausted, starving, disease-ridden and with depleted supplies, began to retreat. On 9 April 1942, Bataan fell and the United States and its forces surrendered, to prevent any more casualties.
The remaining troops that survived, including Yldefonso, were forced to walk in the infamous 105 km. Death March from Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga, with scores dying along the way. Yldefonso reached the prisoner camp, O’Donnell in Capas, Tarlac, weak and emaciated, but his condition worsened due to maltreatment. He died of dysentery and blood poisoning, as per official records, on 19 June 1942.
Like many deceased POW, Yldefonso’s was buried in a mass grave. His name is inscribed on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery. A long-overdue memorial monument of their fallen son was unveiled in the town plaza of Piddig in 2006—a true hero whether in the arena of sports or in the field of battles.
NOTES: Yldefonso’s birth year appears as either 1902 or 1903. He held the rank of a sergeant, as it appears on the memorial wall; some accounts say he rose to become a lieutenant. Versions from the family about Yldefonso’s last days have it that he died of gangrene infection due to untreated shrapnel wounds, cradled by younger brother Teodoro when he breathed his last. Also, his swimming archrival, Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, who had become a lieutenant of the Japanese Imperial Army, was said to have tried to have him released upon learning of his capture. However, Yldefonso chose to stay with his men. Her eldest daughter, Norma Yldefonso (later, Arganda) inherited his swimming genes; she won a Silver in the 100 m butterfly event at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila. She passed away in 2017.
SOURCES:
Official Olympic Report,
1928 Amsterdam Olympics
Official Olympic Report,
1932 Los Angeles Olympics
Official Olympic Report,
1936 Berlin Olympics, vol. 1 and vol. 2.
Teofilo Yldefonzo - NHD
Silent Heroes, https://nhdsilentheroes.org/profiles/teofilo-yldefonzo/#:~:text=Through%20a%20fellow%20soldier%2C%20Yldefonzo,States%20entered%20World%20War%20II.
"Teófilo Yldefonso -
Hall Of Fame Pioneer". www.swimmingworldmagazine.com. Retrieved August 22,
2021.
https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/hall-of-fame/bio/pioneer/te%C3%B3filo-yldefonso
When Tokyo Cancelled its
First Olympics, https://www.pacificatrocities.org/blog/1940-summer-olympics-when-tokyo-cancelled-its-first-olympics
The Tribune, various 1932-1938 issues.
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