JEDDAH, 21 October 2007 — The school which won the most number of gold medals in the recently concluded 1st “Olympic Games” of Filipino schools in Saudi Arabia is crying foul.

Reason: The “overall champion” title went to another school, which happened to be the host.

Al Hekma International School (AHIS) filed a protest yesterday with host Philippine Sunrise International School (PSIS), which declared itself “overall champion” based on a points system allegedly not made known to participants beforehand.

A medals tally provided by the secretariat of the 1st National School Olympics of 2007 showed AHIS capturing 13 gold medals and 18 silver medals.

PSIS, on the other hand, got 12 golds and 17 silvers, but also won 7 bronze medals.

As explained by Ely Sarmiento, project manager of the five-day event, a gold was equivalent to 3 points, silver medal 2 points, and bronze 1 point.

Applying this rule, PSIS scored 77 points, the highest, while AHIS had 57 points and was named 1st runner-up.

The Second Philippine International School in Riyadh (SPIS) got a total of 51 points from 11 golds, three silvers and 12 bronze medals, earning itself 2nd runner-up place.

The Complaint

In a protest letter addressed to PSIS Principal Ofelia A. Laguardia, the executive chairperson of the Games, AHIS Head Coach Jose Gotuato noted that the mechanics of the computation of points earned and the results were explained only during the awarding ceremony.

“In the absence of the published ground rules or an announcement on or before the opening ceremony on the mechanics of computing the overall champion, the standard or normal school Olympic rules should prevail — that is, the winner of the most gold medals is the overall champion,” Gotuato said.

AHIS also complained that “results from events not listed in the formal invitations were included in the computations for the overall champion.”

“This put the schools that were not informed — and thus not prepared to provide entries to these additional events — at a disadvantage” and “created an unfair playing field...,”said Gotuato.

He noted that in the formal invitation sent out by the organizers, 13 events were listed for students: chess, scrabble, badminton, lawn tennis, bowling, cheer leading, darts, basketball for juniors, basketball for seniors, volleyball girls, volleyball boys, table tennis and swimming.

For parents and faculty, the games listed were: men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, badminton mixed, bowling mixed, and men’s volleyball.

Gotuato said the “lack of publication of the additional events and the mechanics of computing the overall champion open several methods of counting to which the result can be manipulated.”

While additional games were included without advance notice, swimming and lawn tennis, to which AHIS had team entries, were canceled due to the absence of entries from other schools.

“We consulted one Riyadh head coach on this issue and he told us that this should be an automatic gold medal since there is no challenger and it is fair enough for the athletes to be awarded for their preparation. This means gold medals for AHIS swimming and tennis teams,” said Gotuato.

He urged “a review of the mechanics of counting for the overall champion in fairness to major events winners” — SPIS as champion in both junior and senior basketball and AHIS in the girl’s, women’s and men’s volleyball.

“We hope that this issue can be resolved fairly with an open mind and that your decision will preserve our good and long- term relationship that we have established since 2005,” said the AHIS protest.

Tit-for-Tat

La Guardia and Sarmiento dismissed all the charges raised by Gotuato as invalid. In a retaliatory move, the duo stripped AHIS of two gold medals, accusing Jeddah’s biggest school of cheating during the games.

“Talagang mali lahat ang akusasyon nila (All their accusations are really wrong), La Guardia told Arab News in an interview.

Sarmiento said he has proof to show that all participating schools were told to submit their entries not later than Sept. 15, and that the swimming and tennis events were cancelled a week before the opening of the Games. He said the organizing committee has decided to “forfeit” AHIS’s victories in the men’s and women’s volleyball for fielding players who were not legitimate parents or teachers.

“We made it clear before the opening of the Olympics that only legitimate parents and teachers would be allowed to participate in the games,” said Sarmiento.

La Guardia and Sarmiento said two witnesses, both parents at Sunrise, have come forward and testified that Al Hekma violated the rule, all at the expense of 2nd runner-up SPIS.

Sarmiento said witness Mel John Pabicon testified that AHIS fielded in men’s volleyball two players known as Pat and Mad Max who were not legitimate members of the Al Hekma community.

Sarah Jane Añes, another parent, testified that three women known as Tata, Tess and Carol played for AHIS women’s volleyball team even though they were not the parents of any Al Hekma student.

La Guardia said she invited Gotuato to a meeting yesterday to clarify the questions he raised, but the AHIS head coach did not respond.

AHIS officials were not immediately available for comment on the latest whammy to hit the school’s team.

Biggest Event

This year’s event was the biggest sports competition thus far among Philippine schools in the Kingdom, with about 600 students and parents from eight schools — four each from Jeddah and Riyadh — participating.

It opened Oct.13 at the Trio Ranch in Jeddah, with Assistant Labor Attaché Wesley Gacutan of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office expressing high hopes that the event would foster friendship and sportsmanship among the participants.

But apart from the daya (cheating), as some irate teachers and parents have termed the subject of the AHIS protest, the Games were also rocked by the alleged incidence of threats and intimidation. This came to a head when Palm Crest International School of Riyadh, which sent the biggest delegation of more than 200 students, parents and teachers, pulled out on the fourth day of the Games, citing “threats” of violence from players of another school.

PSIS Principal Laguardia has apologized for the problems, which she said were “beyond our control.”

Kennedy Maruhom, president of Alpha Phi Omega (APO) who led the volunteer security force for the event, also apologized especially to delegates from Riyadh for whatever inconvenience they may have encountered.

“Huwag po sana kayong madala sa mga nangyari (We hope you won’t get traumatized by what happened),” he said, adding that the promotion of camaraderie and sportsmanship among schools should continue to be upheld.