The fourth day of the 30th SEA Games brought the past to the present, as the Philippine Olympians Association held an event where Philippine Olympians of the past were honoured. Each Olympian was given an OLY pin, to confirm them as a member of the POA.
The pins were awarded by special guest Mikee Cojuangco Jaworski. Additionally, time was spent workshopping topics of interest to the Olympians. One topic was improving the business acumen for retiring athletes, hopefully leading towards more success in the years post-sports.
Learning what it takes to run a business can help in so many situations, one specifically is so athletes would be able to open academies to spread the knowledge they’ve gathered throughout their sporting career.
Rey Fortaleza, 1976 Olympian, was one of 6 boxers participating at the event, which also included Monsour Del Rosario, who was a taekwondo olympian. Roberto Cruz, a 7-time SEA Games champion and 5-time world champion was honoured as well as Roel Velasco, an Olympic bronze medalist boxer.
Akiko Thompson Guevara, the president of the POA and Medalist in the SEA Games and the Asian Games, was present as well, having organized the fantastic event.
The Olympians were also given the right to use the new post-nominal initials, OLY, in the vein as a PHD or a JD. A total of fourteen Olympians were honoured at the event held in the Century Park Hotel in Manila.(Julian-Ray Fortaleza)