52. Long Jumper VISITACIÓN BADANA, 1ST Philippine Gold Medalist, 1958 Tokyo Asiad

The honor of winning the first Gold Medal for the Philippines in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan was the country’s top female jumper VISITACIÓN “Vessie” BADANA- RIBAGORDA, whose performance inspired the Philippine team to finish in 2^nd place overall, behind powerhouse Japan.

Born on 2 July 1937 to Pacifico and Ceferina Badana in the small barrio of Cogon Pardo, Cebu, Vessie was an athletic young girl who competed in inter-school meets in the province. She continued with these competitions in her teen years, where she got even better, prompting Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) to offer her an athletic scholarship.

At that time in the 50s, CIT trained- female athletes were considered the best in the country, like Asia’s sprint queen Inocencia Solis, Asian games sprint/hurdler medalist Francisca Sanopal, Manolita Cinco and javelin thrower Vivencia Sabido. Initially, Badana was doing sprints and low hurdles, but her CIT coach, Dean Vicente Tigas had other ideas when they noticed her explosive starts, and how long her vertical leaps were, when she ran. Thus,  the 5’3”, 106 lb. athlete was trained to do running Broad Jump (now called Long Jump), which she found to her liking.

Her first major athletic break was in 1954, when, at 17, Badana was named to the national team to compete in the Broad Jump event of the 3rd Asian Games in Manila. The top Filipina jumper then was the unstoppable Inocencia Celis, but the best in the region were the Japanese. Sure enough, Yoshie Takahashi secured the Gold (5.68m), followed by teammates Atsuko Nambu (5.64m), and Mikiko Tazaki (5.36m) for a dominant 1-2-3 finish. Solis set a new Philippine record of  5.18 m. (17 ft. 1 and 1/8 in.) but that was good only for fourth place. Badana and promising jumper Salome Banate finished at the tail end of the broad jump competition.

The calibre of competition spurred Badana to do even better in the next year, and sure enough, at the next Intercollegiate Athletic Championship, she placed first in the Broad Jump, breaching the 17 ft, mark with a leap of 17 ft., 1 inch., just 1/8” shy off the national record. That feat was included in the Best Philippine Track and Field Performance for the 1955-1956 Season.

In 1957, Badana made her appearance in 3 major meets. She started the year in Baguio when she joined 4th PRISAA Meet in February. Badana convincingly won the Broad Jump with amazing 17 ft. 4 ¾ ins. Her region, Central Visayas captured the overall championship crown that year.

Later in  March, at  the 1957 National Track & Field in May, she won the Running Broad Jump at 17 ft. 3/8 inch. To prove how versatile she was, Badana also reached the finals of the High Jump, where she placed 4^th with a leap of 4 ft. 9 inches. Her CIT teammate, Lolita Lagrosas won Gold with  her 4 feet 11 7/8 inch effort. But it was in that year’s National Intercollegiate/Intersecondary and Women’s Track & Field Championships where she made headlines. She established a new Philippine record of 17 ft. 8 7/8 ins (5.387 m), surpassing Solis’s record that she set in the 1954 Manila Asiad. Solis was a distant 2^nd at 16 ft. 4 inches.

Badana’s place in the Philippine Team to the 1958 Asian Games was assured. The Games opened on 24 May and were played until June 1, 1958. Badana set the tempo for the Philippines when she competed for the Long Jump. The defending champion from Japan, Yoshie Takahashi who had won the past Gold with a jump of 5.68 m. was conspicuously absent. Only her Bronze medalist, Mikiko Tazaki, was a repeat delegate from Japan.

Mustering her courage and channeling all her power and energy, Badana jumped her best, and according to Japanese press reports, the Filipina “executed an astounding best broad jump to win the first Gold Medal in Track and Field for the Philippines”.  In fact, Badana accomplished her Personal Best and a new Philippine record of 5.64 m. or 18 ft. 6.05  inches)  Silver went to Tazaki (5.49 m.), an improvement from her Bronze finish in 1954, and the Bronze to Taipei’s Huang Soon-sang (5.32 m). It was said that the Japanese Sports Press had been “truly charmed” by her “refreshing friendliness.”

The Philippine delegation  went agog over the first Gold Medal Badana claimed for the country—and it took a woman to accomplish the feat. Inspired by her win, the Athletic Team---which went gold-less in Manila—won 2 more Golds, 4 Silvers, 4 Bronzes. Of the 49 medals brought home, Athletics contributed 11, thus redeeming their sorry performance in the last games. The Tokyo Asiad has been the most fruitful for the Philippines in terms of the total number of medals garnered.

Badana’s next stop was no less than the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Thirty international female athletes vied for the 12 Long Jump finalist spots. In the trials, Badana was the 16^th athlete to take her 3 jumps---she leaped to 5.38 m. on her 1^st attempt, 5.59 m. on her 2^nd attempt, while her 3^rd jump was fouled. When all the scores had been tallied, Badana’s 5.59 m.  jump (her 2^nd personal best), put her in 24^th position among the 30 preliminary finishers. She failed to advance, thus ending her one and only Olympic journey.

In her later years, Visitacion Badana married Porferio P. Ribagorda, a fellow athlete of note, who was employed at the Cebu Institute of Technology-University. They had 5 children: Ruth (now Abarquez), Evelyn (Ybas), Brenda (Abarquez) Ann (Bohol) and Gilbert Ribagorda.  Vessie also worked there in the school as the University Registrar until her passing on 6 Dec. 1993, at the age of 56.

Badana’s 5.64 m. National Record would endure for over a decade as she paved the way for a new generation of women long jumpers to follow in the sport: Lydia Rosalada Silva-Netto  who broke her record with a leap of 5.70 m. ( reset to 5.71 m. in 1970 by her contemporary Lolita Lagrosas), Elma Muros-Posadas, and the spectacular  Marestella Torres-Sunang, the current record holder at 6.72 m. achieved at the Kazakhstan Open, Almaty, Kazakhstan on 4 July 2016.

SOURCES:

Special thanks to Ma'am Gwen Bohol, granddaughter of Visitacion Badana-Ribagorda, for furnishing additional information to this article.

Best Philippine Track & Field Performance 1955-56 Season, The Filipino Athlete, 1956

1957 National Track & Field Championship, National Intercollegiate-Intersecondary & Womn’s Track and Field Championships. The Filipino Athlete, May 1957 issue, p.7

Central Visayas Wins 4^th PRISAA Meet, The Filipino Athlete, June 1957 issue, p. 7

The 1958 National Intercollegiate Track & Field Championships, The Filipino Athlete, 1958

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1958_Asian_Games

Olympiad Long Jump Results: https://www.olympedia.org/results/60024

Asian Games Manila Philippines 1954, https://atfs.org/wp-content/uploads/Asian-Games-1954-Manila.pdf

45. Master of the Fly: FREDDIE ELIZALDE, PH Olympian, Asian Games Medalist (active 1956-60)

It was only in 1956 that the Butterfly stroke made its debut in the Olympics inaugural Men’s 200 m. butterfly, won by American William Yorzik. A rising teen swimmer from the American School in Manila decided to specialize in this difficult stroke, coached by the Olympian Rene Amabuyok, himself, a former national record holder of the fly.

Soon, FEDERICO “Freddie” ELIZALDE, was re-setting meet and national records in the said events, establishing himself as the country’s top fly swimmer by the time he was 18. He would achieve more when he pursued his collegiate studies at Harvard University, where he became a topnotch varsity swimmer under the tutelage of more experienced, international coaches.

After all, the young Freddie came from a privileged and influential background. The son of the business tycoon and Philippine patron of sports, Spanish-Filipino Manolo Elizalde and Mary Cadwallader, Freddie was born in Makati on 17 Aug. 1940. The Elizaldes were very much into sports—Manolo and his brothers Mike, Juan Miguel, and Ángel were avid polo players. Another brother, Federico,  was into shooting sports.

Freddie, however, took an interest in swimming. He was enrolled at the American School (the future International School) in Manila which had an excellent swimming program. The Indians Swimming Team, ably mentored by the 1948 Olympian  Rene Amabuyok, were perennial winners in inter-secondary level swim meets.

In 1956, Freddie gained major attention at the Secondary School Boys Swimming League held between Oct. 5-Dec.6. Fifteen teams from various schools like Mapua, FEU, Sulu Trade School, and National University were entered. The American School sent only  3 boys to the meet: Bobby Boni, R. Butler and 16 year old Freddie Elizalde.

 In the heats, Elizalde shattered the 2-week old league record of Robert Cullen in the 100 m. butterfly with his mark of 1:12.6 secs. This also erased Olympian Rene Amabuyok’s Philippine record established in 1952 at  1;14.8. In the championship round held on 29 Nov. 1956, Elizalde, pressed by Cullen of FEU, clipped 3.5 secs. off his prelims time, resetting the record to 1:09.1 secs. This feat was named as one of the Best Performances of the Year by the swim league.

At the next year’s 1957 National Secondary Boys Swimming Championship held from 21-23 Feb., Elizalde was untouchable in the 100 m. butterfly, winning the Gold in another record time of 1:08.8, a full 7 seconds ahead of Robert Cullen (FEU, 1:15.8) and T. Sahid (Sulu Trade School, 1:16.9).

There was no rest for Elizalde as 4 days later, the 1957 National Open Swimming Championship went underway from 27 Feb. to 3 Mar. The Open drew a strong team from Australia who dominated the meet. Elizalde however, held his own when he competed in the Butterfly Events.  In the 100 m. Butterfly, he placed second to Australian Brian Wilkenson (1:03. 5, a new All-Comers record), timing in at 1:09.2 mins., followed by FEU’s Agapito Lozada in 1:11.2 mins. He, once more placed second to Wilkenson (2:31.9 mins) in the 200 m. Butterfly finals, with a time of 2:41.1 mins, with Lozada in 3^rd, at 2:49.0 mins.

1958 proved to be Elizalde’s busiest year, with the holding of the Men’s and Women’s Manila Open Swimming League, from 15 Jan.-13 Feb. He stamped his class in the 200 m. Butterfly event by breaking Parsons Nabiula’s time of 2:42.0 mins. flat, which the veteran set on 16 Feb. 1956—reducing the time to 2:41.2 mins.—a new Philippine record.

Hot on the heels of the Manila Open was the 1958 National Inter-collegiate, Inter-Secondary Swimming Championships held from 27 Feb.– 1 March. American School captured the overall inter-secondary swim championship in dramatic fashion, edging out the Sulu Trade School in the last event of the meet—the 4 x 100 m. Relay. Elizalde, swimming with team mates Bobby Boni., M. Macias, and R. Domingo won the Gold, on top of the 1^st place finish of Elizalde’s in his pet 100 m. butterfly,  won in 1:06.6—a new Meet Record. American School amassed 20 points to emerge as the overall winner, while Sulu Trade School had 18 pts. and Far Eastern University with 12 points.

Hardly had their swimsuits dried when the 1958 National Swimming and Diving Championships opened from 6-9 March. The American School swimmers, led by Elizalde, were called upon again to compete. As expected, both 100 m. and 200 m. Butterfly events were handily won by Elizalde (1:06.5 mins. and 2:40.4 mins., respectively). Walter Brown, an up-and-coming star from U.P., provided the only real threat to the country’s master butterflyer, finishing in second in both fly events.

This served only as a prelude to the centerpiece spotting event of the year—the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, staged from 24 May- 1 June. The Philippine swimming team came in full force, coached by Jose Obial, the 1936 Olympian.  

Elizalde, without much surprise, qualified for the 100 m. Butterfly finals, along with team mate Walter Brown and a bunch of strong Japanese swimmers. In the end, however, it was Brown who snuck past Elizalde to win the Bronze Medal, in 1:06.9 mins. The Japanese scored a 1-2 finish with Takashi Ishimoto winning Gold (1:01.4 mins.) and Kumiagi Masunaga getting the Silver ( 1:02.0 mins.) Elizalde’s time of 1:07.4 mins, was good only for 4^th place.

It was a different story for Elizalde in the 200 m. Butterfly finals, where he stopped the Japanese juggernaut by finally clinching the Bronze  with a time of 2:47.7 mins., behind the formidable Takashi Ishimoto (Gold, 2:21.4 mins.), and Koichi Hirakida (Silver, 2:24.2 mins.). As icing on the cake, the Philippine 4 x 100 m. Medley Relay team consisting of Rudy Agustin, Jacinto Cayco, Dakula Arabani, and Freddie Elizalde, snatched the Silver in 4:37.7 mins., behind Team Japan ( Keiji Hase, Maseru Furukawa, Takashi Ishimoto, Manobu Koga) who clocked an impressive 4:17.2 mins. for the Gold. Indonesia took home the Bronze medal.

That same year, the newly-minted Asian Games double medalist announced his acceptance at the prestigious Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Three months after Tokyo, Freddie enplaned for the U.S. to begin his colleges studies. He easily made it as a varsity player of the Crimson Swim Team of the ivy league university, and the foreign student athlete quickly made quite an impression with his prowess in the pool.

His first major event was competing for Harvard in a dual meet with West Point held in December 1958. The freshmen Crimson team, of which Elizalde was a member, defeated the army men of West Point, 61-24. Elizalde was singled out for breaking the freshman record in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:23.9 mins---which also surpassed the winning varsity time.

Then on 11 March 1960, at the Eastern Colleges Swimming Championships in the Harvard pool, Elizalde’s superb performance was put on spotlight again. In the afternoon, the 19-year-old sophomore set a pool record in the 200-yard butterfly event, then tied the meet mark in the evening with a blistering time of 2:06.4 time. Yale's Tim Jecko set the mark in 1958. Elizalde beat Jerome Bentley of Dartmouth (2^nd place) and Colgate’s Michael Wolk  and Yale’s Thomas Bissell who tied for 3^rd place.

By this time, the Games of the 17^th Olympiad were all set for staging in Rome  beginning on 25 August 1960. Elizalde was called upon to represent the Philippines in the world’s premiere sporting event. He immediately flew home to train with the rest of the Philippine Men’s Swimming team:  Lorenzo Cortez, Antonio Saloso and Bana Sailani.

As luck would have it, Elizalde suffered a fractured hand before the Rome Olympics which almost kept him off the Philippine squad. It was decided that he would swim only in one individual and one team event so as not to add strain his healing hand. In the 100 m. freestyle, he finished 46 out of 51 swimmers with a slow time of 1:03.0 mins. He and his team mates did not much better in the 4x100 Medley Relay although he swam the butterfly leg faster than his 100 m. freestyle race, landing 15^th among 18 teams, with a time of 4:28.0 mins.

Many believed that Elizalde could have earned a finalist spot in the 200 m. butterfly race because he was already clocking in at 2 mins, 20 secs. in his pre-Olympic swims. Replacing him were a pair of Muslim teeners, Ahiron Radjae, 17 years old  (clocked 2:39.80 mins, ranked 31^st of 34) and 18 year old Amir Hussin Hamsain (clocked 2:27.9 mins, ranked 22^nd of 34).

 It was back to school for Freddie Elizalde after his one and only Olympics. In 2 more years, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University with a degree of Bachelor of Arts Major in Social Relations.

He returned to the Philippines to help manage the giant Elizalde conglomerate of companies. He serves as the chairman of multiple corporations -- among them Manila Broadcasting Company, Star Parks Corporation, Philippine International Corporation (Philcite), Elizalde Holdings Corporation and Northern Capiz Agro-Industrial Development Corporation (Norcaic). He never left his love for swimming, supporting the sports by making special appearances in local swim meets, awarding winners, and meeting young swimmers.

In 1978, Elizalde entered politics by running as delegate to the 1978 elections for one of the 166 regional seats in the Interim Batasang Pambansa, under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan. The interim national assembly was the legislature of the Philippines formed by Pres. Marcos, from its inauguration in 12 June to 5 June 1984. It served as a transitional legislative body as the country shifted from presidential to a semi-presidential form of government. First Lady and Humans Settlements Minister Imelda Marcos headed the party, which swept most of the seats.

Elizalde was married to Josine Pardo de Tavera Loinaz (b.1945/d. 2022), beauty queen and philantrophist, with whom he had 4 sons. His second wife was another beauty queen, Joan Gatlin Salas of Batangas, who passed away in May 1996, leaving Elizalde a widower with children Juan Manuel and Thalassa. On 7 June 1997, Elizalde married well-known ballet dancer, Lisa Macuja, and their union bore 2 children: Michelle Elizabeth and Manuel Cesar. The Elizaldes are celebrating their 28^th wedding anniversary this year, 2025.

Of his children, it is son Federico Jr., 54, who has taken over his father’s mantle as a butterfly specialist  of note,  the same stroke that catapulted the senior Elizalde to swimming glory. Though Federico learned swimming early, he abandoned the sport at age 12, only returning to train at age 51. He has swum long distances in open water, using solely the butterfly style. Since becoming the first person to swim the 9 km. distance from Caticlan in Panay to Puka Shell Beach in Boracay, he has completed more endurance races employing the fly stroke. On 15 July 2023, Federico became the 1^st ever swimmer to stroke his way from Lausanne, Switzerland to Evain, France by crossing Lake Geneva-- a distance of 13 kms—in 6 hours, 44 minutes. The event was sanctioned by Lake Geneva Swimming Association LGSA.

SOURCES:

The Filipino Athlete, various issues;

Dec. 1956, J. Obial, “Mapua Tech Swimmers Win Secondary School Boys Swim League, p.12-15.

June 1957, E.A. Perez de Tagle, “UST Regains Nat’l Title; FEU Takes Women Division Championship, p.12-15.

April 1958, “UST; FEU: American School Top Intercollegiate, Inter-Secondary Swim Meets”. P. 3-6.

Progress 1959 Magazine, Special Report

youtube, The Butterflier Effect. Federico Elizalde Makes a Record with a 3-Way Maricaban Strait Swim in Butterfly

Federico Elizalde Jr. https://www.geni.com/people/Federico-Elizalde/6000000016471151836

“Crimson Swim Team Crushes Army, 55-31 As Sophomores Star”, The Harvard Crimson,December 15, 1958, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1958/12/15/crimson-swim-team-crushes-army-55-31/

 “Harvard's Relay Team Lowers Eastern Free-Style Mark Twice; Brown of Dartmouth, Chase of Yale and Crimson's Elizalde and Gorman Also Excel”, The New York Times, 12 March 1960, p. 16, https://www.nytimes.com/1960/03/12/archives/harvards-relay-team-lowers-eastern-freestyle-mark-twice-brown-of.html

Agustin, Carl Martin. “Meet Federico Elizalde, the 53-year-old swimmer that’s setting records through butterfly strokes”, Lifestyle.INQ. https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/474200/meet-federico-elizalde-the-53-year-old-open-water-long-distance-swimmer-thats-setting-records-through-butterfly-stroke/

Enriquez, Marge. “The ‘miracle child’–one of the country’s richest heiresses—finds her life partner’”. Lifesyle.INQ. 20 May 2012. https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/48783/the-miracle-child%E2%80%93one-of-the-countrys-richest-heiresses%E2%80%94finds-her-life-partner/

9. JOHNNY JOSE, World-Class Tennis Prodigy, active 1949-1964

JOHNNY JOSE, Hall of Fame, Philippine Davis Cupper, Asian Games Medalist

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JUAN MARIA  J. JOSE or Johnny Jose (b. 8 Aug. 1938) was the son of Guillermo Jose and Encarnacion Ybañez Johnson, a former Miss Rizal who competed in the Manila Carnival Queen 1927 . Guillermo was named as the consort of the eventual winner, Luisa Marasigan, but it was with Encarnacion that he fell in love, and eventually got married with.

Guillermo was a tennis aficionado  so he encouraged his son Johnny to take up the sports. Jose started his sports career at 7 and won his first tennis title, the National Elementary Singles, at 9. He retained this title until 1951 when he copped the National Secondary titles. In high school at La Salle, Johnny, along with his older brothers, Guillermo and Emilio, were tennis standouts, who made regular winning appearances at the N.C.A.A. tennis tournaments.

In 1952, the 14 year old Jose played in England, Spain and France (under the sponsorship of well-known sportsman, Manolo Elizalde), and came home with the Junior Singles Championship of Kent, England by defeating India’s Ramanathan Krishnan, now rated as one of the top players of the world. The following year, he played in Japan and won both  the All-Japan Singles Title and Junior Doubles Championships.

In 1955, at age 17, Jose was rated as no. 3 man in Philippine tennis. He later made his debut at the Forest Hills, New York in the U.S. Open Championship. In the same year, he was named to the Philippine Davis Cup Team and remained a member of this team for 5 years (1955-1960). Jose was barely 18 when he graduated to the senior ranks, copped several collegiate titles, then went to the US where he and Gregory Grant won the Junior Doubles trophy.

In 1956, Jose teamed up with Ampon to win three major doubles titles: the PTA Open, the Metropolitan, and the National. In the same year, they won the Saigon Doubles title. A year later, Jose was honored as “Athlete of the Year” by De La Salle College, also won the PTA Open Singles title. 1957 became doubly memorable when he scored a major upset in the South Australian Championships by ousting Belgium’s no. 1 Davis cupper, Philippe Washer.

At his debut at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Johnny Jose bagged his first medal with a Bronze in the men’s singles, completing a 1-2-3 all-Filipino podium finish (Raymundo Deyro and Felicisimo Ampon took Gold and Silver, respectively).

Jose retained his No. 3 position during 1958-1959 and 1959-1960, then jumped to the no. 1 ranking when he won the national singles championship by defeating England’s top ranking player, Mike Sangster. This year (1961), he copped the Malayan Open (singles and doubles), the Malayan Interport Team, and the Singapore Open (doubles).

In 1961, Johny Jose was elected outstanding young man in sports for 1961 not only for the international prestige he has won for the Philippines but also for the fine sportsmanship and gentlemanly deportment off and on the tennis courts.

 Jose made it to his second Asian Games outing held in Jakarta in 1962. Here, he finally secured a Gold medal, trouncing Japan’s Atsushi Miyagi in a hotly-contested final match. This would be the last time that a Filipino would claim a tennis Gold in the Asiad. Jose also won Silver with partner Raymundo Deyro in the doubles, against Japan’s Myagi and M. Fujii,

 At age 26, Jose made a final appearance in the sport at the 1964 Davis Cup Eastern Inter-Zonal Championships and then retired. Johnny, a La Salle chemical engineering graduate, had also worked as head of  the laboratory control department of the Elizalde Iron and Steel Co. He also became a tennis coach, mentoring young tennis stars like the Castillejo sisters, and the women’s tennis national team.

He was inducted into his alma mater’s Lasallian Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and was honored with a Davis Cup Commitment Award Trophy in 2013, for their long years of Philippine representation at the premiere tennis tournament. In 2016, Johnny Jose was inducted into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame.

He passed away on October 23, 2018 at St. Luke’s Hospital. He is survived by his wife Olivia and 5 children Ina, Juanchit, Annalisa, Fatima, and basketball coach Mon Jose.

SOURCES:

“TOYM”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 26 Aug. 1961, Cover

“Johnny Jose, Malayan Open Singles Champ”. Mirror Magazine, 26 Nov. 1960, p. 30

Screen grab from: Juan "Johnny" Jose BNP Paribes Commitment Award Recipient PHILTA 2013”, uploaded by Davis Cup Philippines, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z9IbuYscEc

Medal Record: wikipedia