Olivia "Bong" Coo[13] (born June 3, 1948) is a Filipino sports administrator and retired professional bowler.
[23] On July 20, 2022, President Bongbong Marcos appointed Coo to serve as a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
[27] Coo was a talented athlete in high school, playing volleyball and softball at St. Scholastica College, but she had never bowled before.
She took time off of work to train for the 1986 Asian Games[20] From 1988 through 1999, she worked as a sports consultant for SM Prime Holdings Inc. and SM Bowling Centers,[20] as well as a number of private companies and government agencies, including the office of the vice mayor Vicente Sotto III of Quezon City in 1987.
[32] Additionally, she has served as the Women in Sports Commission's chairperson for the Philippine Olympic Committee from February 2021.
The cover article of the June 2001 issue of International Bowling Industry Magazine featured her entitled "Lady of All Trades" .
[20] Bong Coo is the most decorated Filipino athlete, regardless of gender, in any sport based on Republic Act No.
[19] She also set the highest six-game record of the tournament in 1979 during the doubles gold medal event with Lita dela Rosa.
[43] She also holds the record for most Asian Championship gold medals won, with 14 in 12 straight tournament appearances spanning 28 years.
Events are held over consecutive days and played in varying lane conditions and pace totaling 24 games, and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all.
[19] She and Lita dela Rosa won the doubles gold and the trios silver with Nellie Castillo at the 1979 World Championships in Manila.
During opening ceremonies of 30th edition of South East Asian Games held in Manila in 2019, she was honored as one of the "Greatest of All Time" athlete flag bearers of the South East Asian Games Federation flag, with legendary sprinter Lydia de Vega, Swimmers Akiko Thompson and Eric Buhain, Basketball star Alvin Patrimonio, fellow champion bowler Paeng Nepomuceno, billiards great Efren "Bata"Reyes and Olympic silver medalist Onyok Velasco.
She was among the third batch of inductees to the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame with fellow bowlers Paeng Nepomuceno and Lita Dela Rosa on November 22, 2018.
[61] Coo was honored by the Philippine Postal Corporation with a commemorative stamp bearing her image on February 22, 2022.
[62][63] In 2003, the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) bowlers honored her through the Filipino bowlers of UAE in the "Bong Coo MVP Cup"[64] [65] participated in by OFW's from Brunei, Malaysia, Guam, California, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Singapore.
She 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 honored by the Philippine Sports Association (PSA) a Lifetime Achievement award on February 26, 2019, [66] where she was a four time Athlete of the Year awardee and a member of its Hall of Fame.
[67] In 2000, Bong Coo was voted one of the Philippines Athlete of the Millennium with Paeng Nepomuceno, boxing legends Gabriel “Flash” Elorde and Pancho Villa, amateur boxers and Olympic silver medal winners Anthony Villanueva at the 1964 Tokyo games and Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco at the 1996 Atlanta Games; Asia's first chess Grandmaster Eugene Torre, basketball phenom Carlos Loyzaga, swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso, tennis’ Ampon and sprinter De Vega.