Fely Fajardo

Basketball player Fely Fajardo was a centre on the Philippines team for most of the 1940s. In addition to playing in the Olympic Games, he also represented his country in the 1941 Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere Games, which took place in Japanese occupied Manchuria. Playing alongside his brother Gabby against Iraq in their first match of the London Games, he helped his team become the first to score 100 points in a match at the Olympics.

After his retirement from playing in 1949, Fajardo became a successful coach and was in charge of the national team at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. As the national coach he took his team to second place in the 1965 ABC (Asian Basketball Confederation Championship) in Kuala Lumpur, and fifth in the Asian Games in Bangkok the following year. Fajardo was also active as an international referee and officiated at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.