PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino in a cheery moment in Metz with swimmer Kyla Sanchez, weightlifter Elreen Ando, boxer Nesthy Petecio, gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxer Carlo Paalam.

HURDLERS Lauren Hoffman and John Cabang Tolentino officially earned their berths to Paris at the close of the qualifying window for athletics and the Philippines now has the most number of Olympic athletes at 22 since Barcelona 1992.

“Target achieved,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino on Wednesday. “Now to the most important goal—medals.”

There were 26 Filipino athletes in Barcelona 1992 when the Olympics has yet to go strict in imposing qualifying standards.

And with the qualifiers in place to limit the games to the best of the best, Team Philippines has gone down to 12 athletes in Atlanta 1996, 20 in Sydney 2000, 15 each in Athens 2004 where boxer Mansueto Velasco clinched silver and Beijing 2008, 11 in London 2012 and 13 in Rio de Janeiro where weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz also got silver.

Diaz then won the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2020 where 19 athletes competed and set the best performance ever by Team Philippines with Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paaalam adding silver medals and Eumir Felix Marcial’s contributing a bronze in boxing.

“This proves that despite the stringent qualifiers by the international federations, our athletes have established themselves as among the world’s best,” Tolentino said. “It’s never easy qualifying for the Olympics—much more winning medals—but the template has been set and our athletes in Paris have surely set the tone and path for the future.”

The Philippines is not left behind by its Southeast Asian neighbors and shares fourth place with Singapore, which also qualified 22 athletes to Paris.

Thailand has the most qualifiers at 47, followed by Indonesia with 28 and Malaysia with 25, while the other countries have at least one athlete going to Paris.

Marcial, meanwhile, arrived at the Team Philippines training camp in Metz on Wednesday from Washington DC where he sparred with top US light heavyweights in preparation for the Olympics.

There are now 11 athletes in Metz—gymnast Carlos Yulo, swimmers Jarod Hatch and Kyla Sanchez, rower Joanie Delgaco, weightlifters Elreen Ando, John Ceniza and Vanessa Sarno and Marcial and fellow boxers Paalam, Petecio, Hergie Bacyadan and Aira Villegas,