Name Simeon Toribio Role Olympic athlete | Died June 5, 1969 | |
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Olympic medals Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump | ||
TUKLAS-SPORTS | Simeon Toribio: Filipino High Jumper
Simeon Galvez Toribio (August 6, 1905 – June 5, 1969) was a Filipino high jumper. He competed at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1932. In 1928, he cleared the same height as the silver and bronze medalists Benjamin Hedges and Claude Ménard, but lost the jump-off and placed fourth. Toribio served as the flag bearer for the Philippines at the 1936 Games, where he finished 12th. In 1930 he was awarded the title "Asia’s Greatest Athlete".
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TUKLAS-SPORTS | Simeon Toribio: Filipino High Jumper
Biography
According to author Jorge Afable, Toribio could have won the gold medal, if not only for the "call of nature". It was a grueling four-hour competition to jump over the bar raised at 6 feet and six inches high. Toribio, who once made the jump, failed to overcome it the second time because he was distressed by call of nature.
Toribio studied at Silliman University, and later became a civil engineer and a lawyer. In 1941, he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Philippines, representing the Second District of Bohol, and served until 1953.