When weightlifting diva Hidilyn Diaz delivered the country’s historic Olympic gold medal in Tokyo three years ago, it laid the foundation of what will eventually turn out as the golden era of Philippine sports.

Three years later, this memorable year, 2024, or exactly 100 years since the country first participated in the quadrennial summer sports spectacle, gymnastics demigod Carlos Yulo validated it with a pair of golden feats in the Paris Games.

It was a pair of smashing performances that reverberated back home in this tiny Southeast Asian nation of roughly 108 million.

It also ushered in what the Filipinos have long waited for a century.

Finally, the country’s “Golden Era” for Philippine sports has arrived.

And it was because of this pocket-sized wonder from Leveriza in Manila who dared to dream.

Yulo did not only just replicate Diaz’s Tokyo magnificence; he also eclipsed it with a double-gold haul in the French capital where he dazzled everyone with a performance for the ages.

He first dominated his pet event, the floor exercise, before returning 24 hours later and ruling the vault to carve his name in PH history books.

Also bringing home more medals were boxers Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas, who managed with bronze apiece in their respective weight class.

Golfer Rianne Malixi also made history after winning both the US Girls Junior and the US Women’s Amateur in the same year — becoming only the second player to accomplish that feat after Eun Jeong Seong in 2016.

Other notable achievements also came outside of the Olympics.

This year also has two veteran billiards players dominating the worlds with Carlo Biado winning the World 10-Ball Championship against Japan’s Naoyuki Oki last March, and Rubilen Amit finally capturing the WPA Women’s World 9-Ball title at the expense of China’s Chen Siming in September.

The year also saw Daniel Quizon becoming the newest Filipino Grandmaster, acquiring it during his stint with the national team in the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary last September.

Quizon, 20, is the 17th Filipino to achieve this status and first since Oliver Barbosa and Richard Bitoon earned the feat 13 years ago.

The PH women’s team of Women’s Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna, Women’s International Master Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Bernadette Galas, Women’s FIDE Master Shania Mae Mendoza, and Ruelle Canino also took the spotlight in the said Olympiad after snaring the Group B gold medal with its 24th finish overall — its first medal since the country took the mint in Group C in the 2006 Turin edition.

More Filipino athletes also triumphed in other international stages. But whether it was big or small, indeed, the country is seeing the best years in sports.