The efforts and achievements of the country’s rare breed of athletes who carried the national colors in the Olympics will now be forever immortalized in digital form.

The Philippine Olympians Association has launched "The Living Archive of Olympians PH" website recently in a bid to relive the feats of all Filipino Olympians past and present during their respective journey to the world’s grandest spectacle in sports.

POA president Akiko Thomson-Guevara said the website www.philippineolympians.org intends to showcase a comprehensive database of all Filipino Olympians that can be searched alphabetically or by sport since the Philippines competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics.

"It’s a legacy project of the POA. We believe stories are powerful. But if they are not documented, not shared, these stories will be forgotten. By collating it and making it accessible to all, we will inspire the future generation of Olympians,’’ said Thomson-Guevara, a swimming ace during her prime who competed in three Olympics.

It will likewise include an archive of medalists, featured Olympians, the POA newsletter, general information, vision, purpose, board of directors, and the association’s affiliation with the World Olympians Association.

At present, there are 432 Filipino Olympians who saw action in both the Summer Games and the Winter Olympics (four athletes), including the 19 athletes from 11 sports who will compete in the coming Tokyo Games led by four-time Olympian and 2016 Rio De Janeiro silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz of weightlifting.

The project, which is the first website exhibiting all past and current Filipino Olympians, was made possible through the backing of the Philippine Olympic Committee and Milo, a reliable long-term supporter of Philippine sports.

"This is being done to establish greater awareness of our people that we have athletes who have gone to the Olympics. We stand in support of this project together with Milo Philippines, the most fitting partner in this endeavor,’’ said POC president and Rep. Abraham ``Bambol’’ Tolentino during the recent Olympic Day Celebration.

POA Chairman Rafael "Paing" Hechanova, one of the oldest living Olympians at 93 years old, graced the digital launch of www.philippineolympians.org along with POC deputy secretary general for NSA, government and athletes affairs Karen Caballero, POA treasurer Stephen Fernandez and POA board member Weena Lim. 

Joining them were Tokyo Olympian Kurt Barbosa of taekwondo and his coach Carlos Padilla and Milo Sports manager and Nestle Philippines AVP Lester Castillo.

"Having this program gives all of us hopes and role models to look up to, something we all need especially in these challenging times. Milo remains steadfast in its mission to build a nation of champions through its grassroots programs,’’ said Castillo.

"We’ve seen the journey of our Olympians, especially those who are going to this year’s pandemic Olympics. We can almost smell medals and we’re talking of not just one. It’s hard for everybody, but they soldiered on and here they are,’’ said Caballero.

According to Thomson-Guevara, the POA reached out to the Olympics Studies Center for the website’s existing database and would be updated as new Olympians and medalists come in.

"It’s a work in progress. Researchers had a hard time finding pictures of our Olympians and for some of our Olympians, the data is very sparse. We hope that as our website is viewed and shared, this will reach the relatives of Olympians who will help us with the information that we don’t have,’’ said Thomson-Guevara.