MANILA, Philippines – At the conclusion of the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore on June 16, Filipino athletes brought home 29 gold, 36 silver, and 66 bronze medals.

How does this compare to our previous outings? Let’s look at the last 5 editions of the biennial regional sports meet, from 2007 until the recently-concluded 2015 SEA Games.

The Philippines ranked 6th overall this year, with Thailand leading the medal tally and host Singapore in 2nd place. Our country’s rank is one notch higher than at the 27th SEA Games in Myanmar  in 2013.

However, the country has yet to rank above 5th place since we hosted and dominated the 23rd SEA Games in 2005. That year, we placed first and won a total of 291 medals: 113 gold, 84 silver, and 94 bronze medals. (FAST FACTS: Philippines in the SEA Games)

In 2003, as well as in 1979 and 1997, the country ranked 4th. We have placed 2nd twice (1983 in Singapore and 1991 in Manila), 3rd 6 times (1977, 1981 in Manila, 1985, 1987, 1993, and 1995), and 5th thrice (1989, 1999, and 2001).

Medals won

Our total medal haul improved in the 2015 SEA Games with 131 medals, 30 more than in 2013. However, the number of gold medals we earned (29) was the same as two years ago in Myanmar.

Compare that to 2005, when the Philippines won 113 gold medals. (The tally went down to 112 a few months later, when one gold medalist in taekwondo was disqualified and stripped of her prize.)

Every SEA Games since, the number of gold medals we took home have decreased: from 41 in 2007, to 38 in 2009, 36 in 2011, and 29 each in 2013 and 2015.

The interactive bar graph below shows the Philippines’ overall medal standings and the medals won by the Philippines per sport over the last 5 SEA Games.

If a year has an asterisk (*) beside it, the selected sport was not part of that year’s edition of the SEA Games. Some years are marked with “(no PH del.)” for instances when the country did not send delegates for the selected sport in that year.

PH’s top sports

In the last 5 SEA Games, the Philippines has consistently performed best in 5 sports: athletics, boxing, billiards and snooker, basketball, and softball.

These sports account for 67 of 173 gold medals, and 188 of 753 total medals from the 2007 to the 2015 SEA Games.

Athletics continued its streak of being a reliable source of medals for the Philippines in the SEA Games. In 2015, it might have produced one less gold than in 2013, but it matched its 2007 output of 5 gold, 7 silver, and 9 bronze medals, faring better than in 2009, 2011, and 2013.

Boxing and billiards were two of only 4 sports that have increased gold medal outputs in 2015 compared to 2013. Boxing garnered 5 gold medals for the Philippines in 2015, from 3 in 2013; and for billiards and snooker, 3 golds in 2015, from two in 2013.

(The others sport were sailing and shooting, with one gold medal each in 2015, from zero in 2013.

In the men’s basketball and softball (men’s and women’s) tournaments, the Philippine team has always won gold since 2007. All in all, we have accumulated 4 golds in basketball and 6 golds in softball over the last 5 Games. Basketball was out of the 2009 SEA Games in Laos, while softball was not part of the 2009 and 2013 SEA Games.

Tennis players regularly bring home medals as well, with 5 golds, 10 silvers, and 16 bronzes since 2007. The sport was excluded from the 2013 SEA Games.

Meanwhile, look out for gymnastics, rugby, sailing, shooting, and triathlon, as these may gain momentum and bring home more medals for the Philippines in future SEA Games. The country earned gold medals from these sports in 2015.

Room for improvement

Swimming was previously a lock in delivering gold medals for the Philippines, but since 2011, we have yet to win gold again. It was the same year when 11-time SEA Games gold medalist Miguel Molina retired from the sport.

Nevertheless, our 2015 output in swimming – two silver and 11 bronze medals – was better than in 2013, with only 4 bronzes.

We also suffered setbacks in combat sports, such as taekwondo, wushu, and judo. Looking at data from the last 5 Games, our collection of medals for each of these 3 sports were the lowest in 2015. The same goes for karate and Muay Thai in 2013; both were not featured in 2015.

The Philippines joined badminton tourneys in the last 5 SEA Games, but we won a medal only once, in 2015. It was a bronze medal in the men’s doubles finals. (RELATED: Badminton: smashing barriers)

Meanwhile, we have yet to win a medal for volleyball since 2005, when we won two bronzes – one each for the men’s and women’s volleyball teams. The last time the Philippines won gold in women’s volleyball was in 1993.

After last appearing in 2005 and missing 4 SEA Games, the Philippine men’s and women’s volleyball teams returned in the 2015 Games, but sadly, both did not make it to the semi-finals.

The country’s athletes in diving, equestrian, golf, pétanque, and water polo were also unable to take home medals in 2015, despite winning in these sports in previous Games.

Finally, we participated in men’s football in 2011 and 2015, as well as women’s football in 2007 and 2013, but our respective teams in those years failed to earn a medal. – Rappler.com