16. By Leaps and Bounds: SIMEON G. TORIBIO, The 1932 L.A. Olympics Bronze Medalist

The King of Jumps, SIMEON G. TORIBIO was born on 3 Sept. 1905 in Bohol, the son of Luis Toribio and Epifania Galvez, who both originally were from Zamboanga. In his prime, he was hailed as “Asia’s Greatest Athlete”, dominating his events as the Far Eastern Games, winning a record Gold medals in 3 outings (1927,1930, 1934) of the international meet.

The highlight of his glorious athletic career was representing the country in 3 consecutive Olympiads –in the 1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin Olympics, reaching the Finals in all three, and bagging the High Jump Bronze in 1932. This was one of only 2 Bronzes won by a Filipino athlete in athletics (Miguel White claimed a Bronze in the 400 m. hurdles in 1936).

To think that as a child, Toribio was susceptible to all sorts of maladies like tuberculosis.Thin as a stick, he was advised by his school doctor to take up sports to improve his physical condition, so he learned swimming and joined his first athletic competitions as a youngster in Zamboanga.

When the Toribios relocated to Bohol, Toribio got into athletics only because he wanted to be exempted from mundane school duties at the Bohol Provincial High School, like weeding and cutting grass. He made it to the high school team, specializing in High Jump. He practiced by himself for the event by jumping over banana plants. The teen amazed everyone when he placed first in High Jump at the 1921 East Visayas Meet with a jump of 4 feet 9 inches.

A working student, Toribio became a daily laborer to augment his school expenses. In his sophomore year, however, he dropped out of school to become a barrio teacher in Zamboanga, But he returned to complete his studies and resume athletic training. After high school, Toribio was accepted at the Silliman University in Negros Oriental and enrolled in a science degree.

It was as a Silliman student when he entered his first national meet, the 1925 Philippine National Open Championship Meet where he established a new record. In 1926, he eclipsed the jump of 1925 Far Eastern champion Eliseo Razo, the first Filipino to jump over 6 feet.

To prove that this was no fluke, Toribio qualified for the Philippine team to compete in the 1927 Far Eastern Games in Shanghai. There, he established a meet and Philippine record of 6’3 15/16” (1.93 meters) to win Gold.

In 1928, the Filipino took a leap for glory when he set sail with the Philippine team for the Amsterdam Olympics. As part of the field of 35 jumpers,  the lanky six-footer had to clear the qualifying height of 1.83 meters, to be a finalist. Toribio did so with ease, along with 17 others. For the Finals, the remaining jumpers must clear: 1.70 m., 1.80 m., 184 m,1. 88 m., 1.91 m., 1.94 m., and so on.

American Robert Wade King cleared 1.94 meters, good for the Gold, and the fight for Silver and Bronze was tightly fought by 4 others: Americans Benjamin Hedges and Harold M. Osborn, Frenchman Claude Menard and Filipino Simeon Toribio. All cleared 1.91 meters and could proceed no more. But Hedges and Menard cleared the height in fewer tries; Toribio cleared 1.91 only on his 4^th attempt—which put him in medal-less 4^th place. Nevertheless, it was an amazing showing for Toribio, as he came so near to a podium finish.

After coming home to a hero’s welcome, Toribio was ready to tackle his busy schedule head on. There was still school to finish, and meets to attend to. Most of all, there was  the 1930 Far Eastern Games to train for. In Tokyo, he was the favorite to win, and Toribio did not disappoint—he leaped his lifetime best of 2.00 meters there , way ahead of 2 Japanese jumpers , and struck Gold again.

For that 1930 feat, he was awarded the Helms World Trophy given by the Helms Athletic Foundation starting in 1939, to honor the foremost athlete of each continent dating back to 1896. An additional accolade was the Jiji Shimpo Medal of Honor, given by one of the most influential newspapers of Japan, in recognition of his outstanding athletic achievements. In fact, that year, he earned the monicker, “Asia’s Greatest Athlete”.

That was once again proven at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics when he finally won an Olympic Medal—a Bronze, in one of the most exciting finishes in the history of Olympic field events.  Only 2 Asian countries made it to the finals, Japan with 2 jumpers, and the Philippines, lone entry Simeon Toribio. The United States had 3, Canada had 2, and an entry each for Norway, Italy, Poland,  Switzerland, France and Finland.

Four of the finalists cleared the same top height that reached 1.97 meters—A Canadian, two Americans, and our very own Toribio. Had he jumped his personal best of 2 meters, he would have bagged the Gold instantly. The final placings were determined by a series of  jump-offs, so Toribio had a real chance to make history. 

With the jumps taking more than 4 hours, it was said that he took a bathroom break which disrupted the momentum of his next attempts. Toribio placed 3^rd—behind Canada’s Duncan McNaughton and U.S.A’s Robert Van Osdel.

In between Olympics, he continued his civil engineering course at the University of Southern California on a scholarship, having stayed behind after the L.A. games. While there,  he refined his jumping techniques under Dean Bartlett Cromwell, “maker of champions” and coach of the USC track team.

Upon completion of his studies, he returned to he Philippines in July 1933 and finally got married to his longtime sweetheart Maximiana Escobar, a Leyteña. He was also in time to train for the 1934 Far Eastern Games scheduled in Manila. There was no doubt about his 3^rd Gold, winning his event at just 1.93 m., far below his record.

Nevertheless,  this earned him another crack at an Olympic medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he marched at the stadium on the first day of August, as the Philippines’ standard bearer. That Olympics was significant because it disproved Adolph Hitler’s theories of Aryan superiority with the stunning victories of black American Jesse Owens’ 4 gold medal harvest in athletics.

But over at the high jump event, drama was unfolding. Toribio survived the cut by clearing 1.85 m. He got stuck at that height and finished 12^th of 22 finalists. The Gold went to Cornelius Johnson of the U.S. whom he had beaten in the last Olympics, and the Silver to David Albritton. Both were black Americans. Hitler left the stadium before their award ceremonies, this, after congratulating German and Finn winners of the first two events.

The 1936 Berlin Games would be Toribio’s last Olympics. By then, at age 31, he was ready to retire and get down to the more serious business of earning his keep and raising a family. He became a professor of Engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology from 1934 until 1941—when the war came. He heeded the country’s call and after the fall of Bataan, he served in Lt. Edwin Ramsey’s 40,000 strong guerrilla force, which was given a responsibility for the East Central Luzon Guerrilla Area (ECLGA).

During the Japanese occupation, Toribio had a close call when Japanese police conducted random raids in homes to search for possible resistance fighters. When the military rounded up the Toribio brothers for questioning, a Japanese soldier recognized a framed award certificate presented by the Japanese emperor from the 1930 Far East Games in Tokyo, and photos of Toribio with Japanese athletes at the 1932 L.A. Olympics.. The Japanese police left the Toribio home without any incident.

After the war, Toribio ventured into politics, and ran successfully in 1946 as Representative of the 2^nd district of Bohol, and served 2 terms until 1953. He became Chairman of the Committee on Public Works and was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Congressional Press Club.

In 1948 and 1952, he went to the U.S. to study public works methods and legislations. He authored many laws on public works, particularly those pertaining to schools, airports roads, and harbors. Toribio also developed a keen interest in agriculture and animal husbandry. As a professional, he was an esteemed member of the Philippine and American Engineering Societies,

Under the Liberal Party, he ran for Senator in 1955, along with Diosdado Macapagal, but was not elected, as the Nacionalistas swept all 8 seats. Nevertheless, this self-made man, described as “humble, gentle, never outspoken, doer of things—continued to “epitomize clean sports, the same way that he stood for clean, fair and honest government.”

Toribio, however, never forgot his athletic past, and was twice a delegate to the International Conference on Sports. He was elected first Vice President of the powerful  P.A.A.F. (Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation)  in 1954, as a recognition for his labors in partly planning and supervising the Rizal Memorial Stadium buildings, not to mention his notable contribution to the country’s prestige as an athlete. Likewise, he was singled out by the Philippine Sportswriters Association as the “Filipino Field Athlete of Half Century”.

Simeon Galvez Toribio, sports legend and Olympic high-jumper, was the first inductee of the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. He passed away in his beloved Bohol on 5 June 1969, 3 months shy of his 64^th birthday.

SOURCES:

The Philippine Graphic, Far Eastern Games

1928, 1932, 1936 Official Olympic Reports, LA1984 Digital Collections

“Deportes”(Sports Section), The Tribune, 28 April 1933 issue

“Simeon Toribio Is Arriving Tomorrow”, The Tribune, 16 July, 1933, p. 34

“Best Bet in High Jump”, The Tribune, 16 May 1934, p.8

“Toribio Track Starter Today”, The Tribune, 27 Oct. 1934, p. 11

“Out of 49”, The Tribune, 23 July 1936

1955 Campaign Leaflet, Simeon G. Toribio, “The Only Engineer Candidate for Senator”.