Olivia "Bong" Coo

Olivia BONG Coo
Born (1948-06-03) June 3, 1948
Nationality Filipino Philippines
Occupation Retired, Sporting Apparel Design Consultant
Known for

Most bemedalled Filipino Athlete
4-time World Champion
5-time Asian Games Gold Medalist
14-time Asian FIQ Gold Medalist
International Bowling Hall of Fame inaugural enshrinee 1993
Asia's Bowling Queen
voted "Asia's Most Durable Bowler" in 1994

Outstanding Scholastican
Religion Catholic
Spouse(s) Eduardo Coo
Children Edward, Edilbert
Website

http://www.thebowler.com.ph

http://www.bongcoo.thebowler.com.ph

Olivia "Bong" Coo is a world-renowned tenpin bowling athlete from the Philippines. She is the most bemedalled Filipino athlete per Philippine Republic Act 9064[1][2] also known as "Athletes Incentives Act of 2001". Her career with the national team has earned for Philippines 78 medals broken down to 37 gold, 23 silver and 18 bronze, and won a total of 137 championship titles[3] with at least one Masters title for 28 consecutive years.

Bong Coo is 4-time World Champion and the first Filipino athlete listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.[4] She is one of the inaugural member to the International Bowling Hall of Fame[5]St. Louis Missouri in 1993 with compatriot Paeng Nepomuceno (the Hall of Fame relocated to Arlington, Texas in 2010).

Bong Coo was named one of the "Greatest International Bowlers of All-Time" by the prestigious Bowlers Journal International in its November 2013 100-year anniversary issue.[6]

All Events Champion

All Events is the combined scores in 6 events: Singles, Doubles, Trios and 5-Team Event. Played in varying lane conditions and pace totaling 24 games . This category is regarded as the most prestigious medal in world bowling (see WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Championships).

Bong Coo is the only bowling athlete who has won the All Events titles in bowling's quadrennial and biennial competitions such as the regional games, Zone championships and World Championships. She owned the All Events records on those tournaments at one time in 1986, consequently, she was named World Bowling Writers Female "World Bowler of the Year" that year.

Major All Events Titles and records

Other Major Individual and Masters Titles

Bong Coo also won the Bowling World Cup (1979),[12] quadrennial Asian Games Singles and Masters (1978),[13][14] the biennial FIQ Zone Championships Masters (twice, 20 years apart 1972 and 1992),[15] the biennial FIQ Zone Championships Singles (twice 1978 and 1984) and the biennial South East Asian Games Masters (1981).[16]

Asian Games

The Asian Games are held every four years, it is the biggest multi-sport games after the Olympic Games and is the most prestigious event organised by the Olympic Council of Asia.

Bong Coo won the nation's most gold medal in the quadrennial Asian Games 63-year history, winning five gold medals.[17] No other Asian bowling athlete won more gold medals in the Asian Games. Bong Coo achieved what experts believe to be a historic record by winning all the individual events at the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok Thailand.

Asian Zone Championships

International bowling is divided into three geographical Zones. America, European and Asia which includes Australia and the Western Pacific.[18]

Bong Coo won the most gold medals in the biennial Fédération Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) Zone Championships now known as the Asian Bowling Championships, with 14 gold medals in 12 consecutive tournament participation. Her Zone Masters titles were acknowledged by the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame Committee equivalent to world medals.[19] To this day she still holds the most gold medals won in the FIQ Zone Championships in one celebration with 5 gold medals in 6 events.

Southeast Asian Games

The Southeast Asian Games (also known as the SEA Games), is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. It is supervised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia..

The Philippines hosted the Southeast Asian Games for the first time in 1981. Bong Coo emerged as its most successful Filipino campaigner. She won six medals in six events, four of which were gold medals where she set six individual game records. Bong won the gold in Ladies Doubles with Lita de la Rosa and averaged 221 in Trios en route to an Individual All Events gold medal and became the South East Asian Games Masters champion.[20]

In 2000, Bong Coo was voted one of the Philippines Athlete of the Millennium and was awarded an Achievement Diploma by the International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch in recognition of her outstanding contribution in promoting the development and participation of women and girls in sports, she was 17-years earlier awarded the Philippine Olympic Medal of Honor. She was also named one of the Ten Outstanding Women for the Nations Service (TOWNS) in 1986. The TOWNS award is conferred every three years by the TOWNS Foundation on Filipino women who have rendered outstanding service to the nation.

Retired from active competition, she teaches Sport Bowling since 2002 under the Department of Human Kinetics at the University of the Philippines and Colegio de San Juan de Letran where bowling is included in the Physical Education curriculum.

She briefly participated in seniors competitions where she won two Seniors Master Titles in 2008 at age 60 and in 2012 at 64.

A major bowing ball manufacturer released the MVP-Bong Coo ball in 2001 and in 2003, they are approved by the USBC for use in international competitions.[21] In 2003, the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) bowlers honored her through the Filipino bowlers of UAE in the "Bong Coo MVP Cup"[22] [23] participated in by OFW's from Brunei, Malaysia, Guam, California, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Singapore. She provides free bowling training to youth bowlers from OFW families.

Summary of Awards and achievements

voted World Bowler of the Year in 1986

References

  1. ↑ Manila Standard Vol. XVI No. 103 Tuesday, May 28, 2002 Front Page - May I present… President Arroyo enjoys bantering with bowler Bong Coo…. Coo received the lion's share….
  2. ↑ "Sports Benefits and Incentives Act of 2001".
  3. ↑ "Winningest Bowler of All Time".
  4. ↑ "Philippine Senator Pia S. Cayetano Sponsorship Speech on Philippine Senate Resolution No.1247 Empowered Women: Raising the Bar".
  5. ↑ "International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum".
  6. ↑ Bowlers Journal November 2013 issue Luby Publishing
  7. ↑ "List of WTBA World Tenpin Bowling Championships medalists".
  8. ↑ "European Tenpin Bowling Federation Championship History World Championships 1979".
  9. ↑ "European Tenpin Bowling Federation Championship History World Championships 1983".
  10. ↑ Philippines at the 1978 Asian Games
  11. ↑ Philippines at the 1986 Asian Games
  12. ↑ "1979 Bowling World Cup".
  13. ↑ Philippines at the 1978 Asian Games
  14. ↑ Bowling at the Asian Games Bowling at the Asian Games
  15. ↑ "New Straits Times - Aug 30, 1992, Bong Coo Retires in a Blaze".
  16. ↑ 1981 South East Asian Games in Manila, Philippines
  17. ↑ "PSAMedia Philippines in the Asian Games".
  18. ↑ "International bowling geographical Zones".
  19. ↑ Bowlers Journal November 2013 issue Luby Publishing
  20. ↑ "1981 Southeast Asian Games".
  21. ↑ "United States Bowling Congress Approved Bowling Ball List" (PDF).
  22. ↑ "Bong Coo MVP Cup, Philippine Star".
  23. ↑ "OFWs see action in Bong Coo tilt Philippine Daily Inquirer, Dec. 28, 2003".
  24. ↑ "Manila Standard Aug 22, 1992".
  25. ↑ "Philippines Sportswriters Association Awardees".

Further reading

Bong Coo, A living legend in her time, Raffy Japa, Manila Standard, May 27, 1987
Bong Coo Planning to Retire, Manila Standard - Sep 4, 1992 p. 28
"Filipina Firsts: A Salute to 100 Women Pioneers 1898-1998" by the Philippine American Foundation

External links

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