By:Franklin Garfin Michael Vargas Filipino Athletes By:Franklin Garfin Michael Vargas

Track and Field

Lydia de Vega-Mercado considered Asia's fastest woman in the 80s gold medal in the 100-meter dash in the 1982 New Delhi Asiad silver medal in the 200-meter race from the 1986 Seoul Asiad

Simeon Toribio won gold medals in high jump in five stagings of the Far Eastern Championship Games (1921, 1923, 1927, 1930, and 1934). won the bronze medal in high jump at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles

Swimming

Teofilo Yldefonso considered the greatest swimmer of the Philippines bronze medal in the 200 meter breastroke event of the swimming competitions at the 1928 Olympic Games bronze medal in the same event at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Joseph Eric Buhain won most of the events in swimming at the 1991 Southeast Asian Games

Bowling

Olivia "Bong" Coo first Filipino athlete listed in the Guinness Book of Records. 4-time World Champion the most bemedalled Filipino athlete of all time

Rafael "Paeng" Nepomuceno > 6-time World Cup Champion > holds three Guinness Records youngest Bowling World Cup champion at 19 > greatest number of Bowling World Cups > most tenpin bowling titles in a career with 118

Chess

Eugene Torre considered the strongest chess player the Philippines has ever produced during the 1980's and 1990's period first Asian player to earn the much coveted title of International Grandmaster

Billiards

Jose Parica Philippine Hall of Famer pioneered the "Filipino invasion" in the United States 2005 US Open, 2nd place

Efren "Bata" Reyes > Philippines and the "World's Best Billiard Player of All Time" > Five time Winner in the World 8-Ball Championship > Receives more than a hundred international recognition and awards

Basketball

Carlos "The Big Difference" Loyzaga > The team captain of the Philippine National Team in the 1950s and early 1960s. > Led the Philippines to a third place finish and captured the bronze medal in the 1954 FIBA World Championship > The first basketball player to be inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame.

Raymond Townsend > the first Filipino-American to play in the NBA > the first Filipino-American and only Asian American to ever be drafted in the first round of the NBA draft > played three seasons in the NBA (Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers)

Football

Roman Gabriel > the first Asian-American to start as an NFL Quarterback > played 16 seasons in the NFL (Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles > 4 time Pro Bowl > 1969- NFL MVP Award

Teddy Bruschi > 13-year veteran of the NFL > 2 time NFL Pro bowl linebacker > Won 3 super bowl rings with New England Patriots

Baseball

Bobby Balcena > Outfielder for the Cincinnati Redlegs > 1st Filipino-American to play in the Major League Baseball history

Bobby Chouinard > Right hand pitcher > The only person born in the Philippines to play in Major League Baseball > Played for 4 MLB teams (Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies)

Gene Espireli > Left handed pitcher for the San Francisco Giants > the first full-blooded Filipino to ever play in the Major Leagues

Tim Lincecum > Right handed starting pitcher for San Francisco Giants > won the 2008 NL Cy Young Award

Jason Barlett > Shortstop for Tampa Bay Rays

Boxing

Pancho Villa (91-8-4, 1919-1925) > "The Greatest Flyweight of the Century" > "Asia's First World Champion in Boxing" > "Inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame" > "Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame"

Gabriel "Flash" Elorde (88-27-2, 1951-1971) > "Longest Reigning World Junior Lightweight Boxing Champion" for seven years > "The Greatest World Junior Lightweight Boxing Champion in WBC History“ > Inducted his name in the World Boxing Hall of Fame > Inducted his name in International Boxing Hall of Fame

Ceferino Garcia (102-28-12, 1926-1945) > the heaviest Filipino ever who became a world-boxing champion (welterweight) > inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame > inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame

Luisito Espinosa (47-13,1984-2005) >won World titles in two different weight divisions >Bantamweight and featherweight

Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao (49 - 3 - 2, 1995 – Present) Rated as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world first Filipino and Asian boxer to win five world titles in five different weight divisions first boxer to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes

Nonito Donaire (22-1, 2001-Present) >WBA interim world champion in the super flyweight category

The End <ARGAS >NEO