3. Making History: Sprinter DAVID NEPOMUCENO, The 1st Philippine Olympian

The honor of becoming the first Philippine athlete to participate in the World Olympics belongs to DAVID NEPOMUCENO, a trackster who was officially sent to the 8^th Olympiad in Paris, France, held from 4 May to 27 July, 1924.

Though still under American rule, the Philippines was allowed to join the International Olympic Committee in 1918, on the basis of its established Philippine Amateur Athletic  Federation (PAAF) which became the governing body of Philippine sports in 1911. It was only in 1924 though, that a Filipino athlete was sent to compete officially under our flag, making the Philippines the first country from Southeast Asia to join the world’s premiere sporting event.

David Nepomuceno was born in Oas, Albay on 29 June 1900. Not much is known about him before 1924, except that he comes from a quiet, unassuming family who valued hard work and simple living. He grew up in his humble town and obviously benefitted from the American physical education programs that were introduced in local public schools. The smalltown youngster proved proficient in both athletics and baseball which led to his participation in many interscholastic and regional meets.

As he came of age, Nepomuceno joined the U.S. Army’s Philippine Scouts based in Fort McKinley, Manila. His athletic prowess came into good use at the Philippine Department Athletic Tournament that was regularly held at Fort W. McKinley. Also known as McKinley Games, the large sporting event was participated in by members of the Philippine Scouts of the U.S. Army, various infantry units and air corps who competed in athletics, swimming, boxing and ball games.

Many of the top athletes from these games saw action at the PAAF Championships that were timed with the holding of the 1924 Manila Carnival at Wallace Field in February. That same year, the Olympic body opened slots for the Philippines in athletics at the scheduled Paris Olympiad. Barely 3 months after the carnival games, PAAF had to mount a series qualifying events in May 5, at Wallace Field.

The formidable sprinter from Leyte, Fortunato Catalon, was heavily favored to make it to Paris. After all, he was the Far Eastern Champion Games winner  for 4 consecutive editions (1917, 1919, 1921), winning Gold for both 100 yard and 220 yard races. But it was the younger Nepomuceno who pulled a major surprise, by running 100 yards in a sensational 9.54 seconds. Though Catalon matched his time for the same distance, he was overshadowed by Nepomuceno, as it was he was chosen to run the 100 m and 200 m. at the games, with Catalon as a “non-partant” (non-runner) in the sprint doubles, as listed on the official program, along with Juan Taduran in Decathlon.

Nepomuceno lost no time in preparing for his trip to French capital where the games were scheduled for 3 months, starting May and ending in July. In fact, he applied for a passport on May 14—7 days after the opening of the Olympics. Hi passport forms give us a glimpse of David’s personal details. The brown-complexioned Filipino listed his occupation as a soldier, standing 5 feet 3 inches tall, with an oval face and round chin. His mouth and forehead were of medium size. His hair was black, his eyes dark brown, with a turned-up nose (retrousse).

Three days later, he left on board passenger and cargo ship Sui Sang, along with PAAF official Dr. Regino Ylanan, who doubled as his coach, being a Far East Games veteran himself. After over a month of sea travel, the Philippine delegation of 3 people (the 3^rd was attache B. Minelle) arrived in time for the start of the athletic events. Nepomuceno barely had a month to get adjusted to the European weather, size up the competition and  train for the heats that were set on the first week of July.

Nepomuceno was grouped with 5 other runners in Heat 6, of 17 heats total. These include Antonin Svoboda  (Czechoslovakia), Henricus Adrianus “Harry” Broos (Holland), George Dustan (South Africa), Poul Schiang (Denmark), and José-María Larrabeiti (Spain). With his physical condition affected by the long trip, Nepomuceno had an unremarkable run, trailing all the runners, finishing sixth, and last.

The 100 meter dash finals was won by Harry Abrahams of Great Britain, whose victory was retold in the 1981 Oscar award-winning film, “Chariots of Fire”. Despite being branded as a true story, it has a few factual errors. For example, Abrahams did not look at the 100 meter race as a chance to redeem himself for his 200 meter loss, since the 100 m. preceded the 200 m. finals.

Our valiant Olympian fared better in the heats for the 200 meter-dash.  Lumped in Heat 15 with Maurice Degrelle (France) , Marinus van den Berge (Holland), Lawrence Betts (South Africa) and Henricus Cockuyt (Belgium), Nepomuceno placed third. Unfortunately, only the first 2 fastest could advance to the quarterfinals.

Still, Nepomuceno came home with head up high, as his Olympic experience only served to bolster his reputation as a major force to reckon with in Asian athletics. The next year, he proved just that in the 1925 Far Eastern Games in Manila, recording a personal best of 22.5 secs. in the 200 meter dash, defeating the strong Japanese contenders.

Then, in the 1927 staging of the Games in Shanghai, he won the Gold medal in the 100 meter dash, registering a record-breaking time of 10.6 secs., the first Filipino athlete to run the distance under 11 seconds, a clocking that stood for many years.

He continued to compete sporadically in the 1930s, and newspapers would still refer to him as “the 1^st Filipino in the Olympics”, “former Olympic ace”, and “brilliant Olympic veteran” years after his Paris odyssey. In 1934, David was still good to be shortlisted for training by American coaches for possible inclusion in the next Philippine Olympic Team. Few years later, he opted to retire early from the Philippine Scouts and retreat to his quiet, domestic life. He was afflicted with a lingering lung disease which led to his hospitalization at the Sternberg General Hospital beginning in May 1939.

He never recovered from his disease and passed away 4 months later at age 39 on 7 September 1937. David Nepomuceno will go down in the history of Philippine sports as a pioneer athlete who made history by raising the flag of the Philippines for the very first time on the world’s biggest sports stage, for other great Filipino athletes to follow.

Source: wikimedia, David Nepomuceno

SOURCES/REFERENCES:

David Nepomuceno phot, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/143942829?objectPage=320

The Far East Games, https://www.rsssf.org/tablesf/fareastgames.html

“Two Filippinos did 100 Yards in 9.45 secs.”The Boston Globe, Mass. 5 May 1924 issue, p.13

“107 Athletes are on Tentative List”, Tribune (Philippines : 1932 - 1945), Saturday 17 February 1934, page 9

“Track Contest On Next Month, Entries Now Open at PAAF Office; Several Veteran Athletes Competing”, The Tribune, 9 Sep. 1933 issue, p. 7.

“Nepomuceno, Former Olympic Ace, Passes”, The Tribune, Thursday 28 Sept.  1939 issue, p. 11

Jojo de Jesus for Dateline Ibalon,”David Nepomuceno, Pioneer Filipino Olympian from Oas, Albay”,  3 Aug. 1924.

David Wallechinsky, The Complete Book of the Olympics, published by the Penguin Group, 1988.

Official Report of the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, LA84 Digital Library.