Dottie Ardina vents about lack of uniforms for Philippine Olympic golfers

Olympic golfer Dottie Ardina aired her frustration over what she described as a lack of uniforms for her and fellow Filipina Bianca Pagdanganan in the ongoing Paris Olympics golf tournament.

In a video circulating on social media, Ardina was seen putting adhesive on a patch of the Philippine flag on her shirt.

“Oh 'di ba, ang saya-saya?” Ardina said in the video.

“Sana all may uniform. Kami lang ang wala, kailangan pa bumili ng t-shirt. Diyos ko, ano ba naman klaseng Olympics ‘to?

“Shoutout naman diyan sa mga walang nagbigay. Asan na ba ang uniform namin? Saan napunta?

“Dalawa na lang kami rito, 22 na lang na atleta, kulang-kulang pa.”

"Nakakahiya. Sobrang daming tao, kami lang ang walang uniform, tuklap-tuklap pa 'tong anong 'to."

In a statement, National Golf Association of the Philippines secretary general Bones Floro recalled the events leading up to the tournament.

He said that he has already told the official apparel sponsor that golf is different and the supplier understood it and provided a deck of proposed uniforms. According to Floro, the supplier said it would ship them directly to Paris by July 31, but other items like tracksuits were sent to the family of Pagdanganan in Manila to be brought to Paris.

Floro also said that on August 3, he was informed that the items were ready for pickup, which included t-shirts, tracksuits, and caps among others. However, there were no competition gear (playing tops, bottoms, and golf shoes) so he called the official apparel supplier to clarify. However, the apparel brand said the competition gear were supposed to be there.

As it turns out, after tracing, some items were stuck with the courier.

"I said that was unacceptable because the golfers will not be allowed to play without compliant clothing. So they decided to purchase the clothing locally in Paris based on the sizes submitted by the players previously," Floro said.

The NGAP secretary general said when he met with the supplier, he said the flag needs to be on the apparel.

"So they made the effort to get them printed. They found a place but didn’t have the capability of printing flags. So they did the 2nd option which was to print our Olympic country code which is PHI."

"When we gave the uniforms to our players, apparently, only 1 fit Dottie," Flor said, adding that they informed the supplier of the situation, but at that point, "Dottie had decided to go out and buy tops for both of them."

Meanwhile, Senator Bong Go expressed his disappointment with the issue.

“Ramdam ko po ang sama ng loob na inilabas ng ating mga atleta. Hindi natin ito inaasahan lalo pa't isinulong natin ang dagdag na P30 milyon na pondo para lamang sa preparasyon ng ating delegates sa 2024 Olympics,” said Go, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Sports.

(I feel the disappointment of our athletes. We did not expect this, especially since we pushed for the additional P30 million in funding for the preparation of our delegates for the 2024 Olympics.)

“Malaking bagay ang uniporme, kasi andun ang bandila ng Pilipinas. Iyon ang sumisimbulo sa bansang kanilang inirerepresenta. Kaya ang tanong ko ngayon sa Philippine Sports Commission at sa concerned national sports association: Ano ang nangyari?” he added.

(The uniform is important because it has the flag of the Philippines. It symbolizes the country that they are representing. That is why my question to the Philippine Sports Commission and the concerned national sports association is: What happened?)

He said that the committee is willing to look into the incident after the Paris Olympics and conduct a post-evaluation to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

“Hindi po natin nais magsisihan. Ang gusto lang natin ay maibigay ang sapat na suporta sa ating mga magigiting na atleta na bitbit ang karangalan ng ating bansa. Once in a lifetime lang po ang mga oportunidad na ito na makasali sa Olympics o iba pang international competitions. Ibigay na po natin ang buong suporta na nararapat,” he said.

(We don’t want to blame anyone. We just want to provide enough support for our athletes that bring honor to our country. Joining the Olympics or other international competitions is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Let us give our full support.)

Ardina had her best performance yet in the third round as she jumped 13 spots to move into 23rd place on the golf leaderboard. Pagdanganan, meanwhile, is tied for 13th place.

The two golfers are the last two Filipino athletes competing in the Paris Games. The Philippines has a total of two gold medals and two bronze medals in the 2024 Olympics. —with a report from Jiselle Anne Casucian/JKC/VBL, GMA Integrated News