TWENTY-TWO is the final count of the Philippine athlete delegation for the Paris Olympics which comes off the wraps on July 26.

Gilas Pilipinas, the last one to have tried to make the Games, would have made it 23 had it ruled the FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia.

The Philippines suffered a 60-71 defeat to Brazil in the semifinal on Saturday as the country could not make the Olympic basketball stage for 52 years now or since the 1972 Munich Games.

That German Olympic edition also saw the Philippines send its highest athlete delegation of 53.

Still, it is 22-strong for the Philippines for this Paris Games with the country breaching the 20-athlete delegation for the first time since the 2000 Sydney Games where there were 20 Filipinos who competed.

The Philippines came close to breaching the 20-athlete mark at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago when there were 19 athletes led by weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who delivered the country's first Olympic gold medal.

With Diaz unable to qualify for Paris, the country's medal hopes are automatically placed on the shoulders of those returning Olympians, especially the ones who medaled like boxers Nesthy Petecio (silver), Carlo Paalam (silver) and Eumir Marcial (bronze).

Petecio, Paalam, and Marcial will be competing at the women's 57kg, men's 57kg and 80 men's kg divisions, respectively.

Pole vaulter Ernest John "EJ" Obiena and gymnast Carlos Yulo (men's artistic) might have not made the podium in Tokyo in 2021 but they have grown leaps and bounds since then and are now favorites to bring home a medal.

Golfer Bianca Pagdangan and judoka Kiyome Watanabe completed the Philippine group of athletes who made their second straight Olympic qualification.

Outside the aforementioned seven athletes, the rest of the Philippine delegation are making their Olympic debuts.

Aira Villegas and Hergie Bacyadan are making their first go as they completed the five-athlete boxing delegation in Paris, the highest from any sport that the Philippines is sending.

Aleah Finnegan, Levi Ruivivar and Emma Malabuyo, meanwhile, are competing at the women's artistic gymnastics as they joined Yulo to make the four-athlete Philippine gymnastics team.

The third highest delegation for the Philippines belongs to weightlifting where Vanessa Sarno, Elreen Ando and John Ceniza are competing.

Tied for the third highest is the Philippine athletics team with hurdlers Lauren Hoffman (women's 400m) and John Cabang (men's 110m) joining Obiena in Paris.