When Hidilyn Diaz came home a gold medalist from the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021, then President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration scrambled to make the most of the moment. They mounted an online courtesy call in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic in which they promised Diaz a house and lot in Zamboanga City and P3 million, apart from the cash incentives guaranteed under Republic Act No. 10699. 

In that same courtesy call, Duterte’s message to Diaz included thanks and a request to forget (an apparent reference to the Palace’s adverse reaction to her call for public assistance for her training): “We are extremely proud… pero salamat naman sa pagtitiis mo. I hope that the years of toil, the years of disappointments, and the years na hindi maganda nangyari in the past, we will just forget them. You already have the gold. Gold is gold and it would be good for you to just let bygones be bygones.”

Sports appreciation in the Philippines has largely been kept within the lenses of entertainment, an opiate, showbiz’s distant cousin, and hardly a celebration of the human physique, strength, and determination. Only a few hours after Carlos Yulo’s first gold medal win, social media platforms were already pumped with vitriol over the drama between him and his mother. The posts had little to do with gymnastics, Yulo’s brilliance, or sports, for that matter. (If there were any, they were directed against basketball, for which the Philippines didn’t even qualify to join the Olympics competition. Ironically, while the limelight shone on gymnastics, these posts alleged that we pay too much attention to basketball… because we short folk, un-ironically, believe that we are tall enough to contend with the likes of Nikola Jokic.)  

In Paris, the Philippines would go on to win two bronze medals in boxing care of Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas’ fists, pole vaulter EJ Obiena would apologize for a beautiful 5.90m leap, and Bianca Pagdanganan would swing valiantly to fourth place in golf. And yet public attention would still be glued to the Yulo household, the royal rumble having now recruited Yulo’s girlfriend Chloe San Jose and his mother’s lawyer Raymond Fortun into the ring. Over social media’s thin veneer of appearances and impressions, “netizens” (a cumbersome word) would chime in at length on the tangentially related topics that media’s laser focus on their personal lives had managed to unearth. But I would argue that this problem is beyond the media, and Filipinos do little to understand sports simply and precisely because we want little to do with sports.

2022 study 

There was an important study that fell between the cracks: “Results from the Philippines’ 2022 report card on physical activity for children and adolescents,” published in October 2022 by the Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness. The 9-page paper, citations included, was written by 16 scholars—15 from different colleges of the University of the Philippines (Diliman and Manila) and one from the Education University of Hong Kong. It was intended to “provide a comprehensive assessment of physical activity and other related behaviors, including the various factors and settings that influence these behaviors.” 

After the identification and review of the “best available nationally representative data,” grades were assigned to five indicators: “F” in overall physical activity, “D” in active transportation, “B” in sedentary behavior, “C-“ in school, and “B” in government. The study’s conclusion was that “despite government policies related to physical activity in the country, the majority of children and adolescents in the Philippines do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity for health.”

Even with the paper’s bleak assessments, I enjoyed reading it because of the way it was able to triangulate its analyses and arrive at its conclusion. It was holistic, and its view of sports and exercise was one which included day-to-day movement, taking a snapshot of a sizeable population over an expanded period; it was not just spurred by the occasional medal finish or close fight. 

The primordial mistake we are making in understanding and appreciating sports is how, over the past decades, we do not go beyond seeing them only in terms of their rewards, as tickets out of poverty, or a promise of heaven after a long and difficult life. Anything less difficult, or anything less rewarding, and we no longer see sports as good or worthy. 

When Diaz lifted us to a gold medal in 2021, the dire lack of funding and political patronage in the Philippine Sports Commission became the subject of Atom Araullo’s two-part report for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. But we hardly followed this through, the slapdash solution being only more funding from more private donors. And when the grandmaster Wesley So became an American citizen in February 2021, the focus remained on his personality—some would note his choice for a “better life” in the United States—and not on his genius and hard work as a winner of many chess championships. And, of course, Manny Pacquiao’s boxing defeats after being KO’d hard by Juan Manuel Marquez, as well as his countless falls from grace in politics, could do nothing to tarnish his rags-to-riches story. 

Different view

For a long time now, we’ve been viewing sports only as a linear progression, as if they’re the proverbial tests in many of our folk legends.

There must be a way to view sports differently. In following this one-dimensional narrative template for sports—in which athletes can only win or lose—we have lent a lot of room for corruption and other evils to be seen as mere hurdles to overcome. Or, worse, all these wrongs become default conditions which athletes must simply accept should they want to achieve greatness in their sport. But we can gain so much from more detailed and more complex readings into sports.

We must move toward making these sports easier to understand. One of the remarkable things in Yulo’s two gold medals is that they were won in events which required judges to look critically and to apply their technical expertise in floor exercises and vault gymnastics. In other words, these events can be said to be subjective, their scoring highly dependent on what the judges thought. We Filipinos are often allergic to these “subjectivities” and tend to cheer more for more quantifiable, points-based sports, like basketball or volleyball. But now, with Yulo’s win, we find that our subjective natures can be causes for celebration, too. Grace, timing, beauty, mystery, consistency, decisiveness in motion—all of these are often lost on us when we see only the reward aspect, only the supposed conclusions, of playing sports. 

All the medals have been awarded and the 2024 Olympics has finally ended. But what still interests people are the discussions it opened: the cultural clash in the Dionysian Bacchanalia aka reworking of the Last Supper, the colossal cyberbullying around Imane Khelif and her gold-medal finish, Rachael Gunn’s deliberate flopping and her mockery of breakdancing, the running titan Eliud Kipchoge’s DNF, and now, Carlos Yulo and how everyone just wants a piece of any of his two gold medals. Sports are at the core of all of these. 

Many would say that these are issues which are far from the gut and can hardly put food on the table. Yet there’s a way to see sports differently. Lest we forget, since forever, from the myth of Greek gods playing games in Olympia to the reality in front of us, sports have always been a way to make sense of our lives and a way to arrange the society we live in.

DLS Pineda is a member of the UP Mountaineers and an assistant professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature – College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines Diliman.

Read more: Quest for gold: Gymnast Carlos Yulo seeks revenge in Paris

The post Postscript to the Paris Olympics: The games at home appeared first on CoverStory.

Filipino gymnastics star Carlos Edriel Yulo delivered a dazzling 15.000 routine in the men’s floor exercise event finals for the Philippines’ first ever gold in artistic gymnastics at the Paris 2024 Olympics last Saturday, Aug. 3. 

With the historic win, the Manila native succeeded in his revenge tour in golden fashion, following a disappointing Tokyo 2020 Olympics bid where he narrowly missed a medal finish in vault at 4th place.

“I’m so overwhelmed. I’m feeling grateful for having this medal and for God. He protected me, as always,” Yulo said in an online interview. “He gave me the strength to get through this kind of performance and perform this well.”

Yulo now joins Filipina weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz as the two Olympic gold medalists in Philippine history. Diaz achieved her feat at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 55kg category of women’s weightlifting. 

Other medal hopefuls

With the Philippines on the board in the medal tally, Filipinos are eagerly anticipating for more as several countrymen are one step away from securing a medal finish of their own.

Just hours before Yulo’s victory, EJ Obiena powered through a shaky start to book a ticket to the men’ pole vault finals. The world’s No. 2 cleared both 5.70m and 5.75m in first attempts after failing to overcome the much lower 5.60m bar twice.

“We missed two attempts at 60 and you wanna go at 70? And I haven’t made a bar. Are you sure?” Obiena said as he recalled his coach’s decision to quit the 5.60m and move up a pole with his tournament life on the line with his final attempt. 

It appeared that coach Vitaly Petrov made the right call as the 28-year-old pole vaulter overcame the higher pole with ease.

Carlo Paalam’s medal quest ended in a 2-3 split decision exit in the quarterfinals of men’s boxing 57kg division in the hands of Australian boxer Charlie Senior. 

Filipina boxers

Only two Filipina boxers are left vying for an Olympic medal in the sport. Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas reached the quarterfinals, leaving them with one more hurdle to clear for a medal finish. 

Petecio bested French home bet Amina Zidani in the last two rounds of the bout for an eventual 4-1 split decision victory in the round of 16 of women’s 57kg division.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics silver medalist decided to up the ante in the final two rounds after losing the first, 2-3, in the judges’ score cards. With a much more dominant showing, she flipped the scores with a 5-0 Round 2 performance and a 3-2 final round to clinch the quarterfinals berth.

On the other hand, Villegas pulled off an upset over second seed Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria in yet another unanimous decision victory at the round of 16 women’s 50kg division.

The Tacloban City native outclassed the Algerian in the opening salvo as she quickly established the advantage early on with a 5-0 first round. After a wobbly 3-2 second round in favor of Boualam, Villegas made sure to close it out cleanly in the final round with a 5-0 beating to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals.

The golden routine

Carlos Yulo’s astounding performance netted him a score of 15.0, the only 15-point floor routine of the entire men’s artistic gymnastics tournament. 

Yulo, who performed third, quickly denied Israel’s Artem Dolgopya’s hopes of a back-to-back Olympic gold by pulling slightly ahead of the world champion’s 14.966 routine before him. 

Diving deep into the floor performance, the Filipino performed a much more difficult routine (6.600 d-score) from his qualification one (6.300 d-score). The new routine in Paris, however, was already unveiled by the gymnast in the all-around finals last July 31 where he scored 7.733 in execution—way lower than his impressive 8.4 e-score in this event final.

Level of difficulty

This change in difficulty level can be observed in Yulo’s upgraded second pass of a double twist into a double front tuck combination for the additional 0.3 d-score.

What also set him apart was his overall clean performance with exceptional landings—especially when he stuck his three-and-a-half twist dismount to seal the deal.

Being the third performer out of the eight finalists, Yulo cemented himself early at first place. The country eagerly sat at the edge of their seats.

The bronze medalist, Jake Jarman, was also met with congratulations and pride from the Filipinos due to him being a Filipino British gymnast. The son of a Cebuana native, the athlete representing the United Kingdom scored 14.933, only 0.033 lower than the silver medalist.

Carlos Yulo seeks to enact his revenge once more at the vault event finals on Aug. 4—the very event in which he almost won a medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Read more: Quest for gold: Gymnast Carlos Yulo seeks revenge in Paris

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It’s no secret that much is expected of Obiena in his upcoming campaign. He’s the second-highest ranked pole vaulter in the world, after all, and he knows there’s a ton of pressure on his shoulders to deliver.

But after having a career-defining year in 2023 that saw Obiena rule the Perche en Or in Roubaix, France and the Orlen Cup in Lodz, Poland, pressure no longer fazes the Tondo, Manila native. He, in fact, welcomes it.

“I’ve been saying this for quite some time, but pressure is a privilege,” said the 28-year-old athlete. “Being in a situation where there’s something expected from you… that means you’ve shown that you are capable of doing something historic—something worthwhile.”

Inspiration from Diaz-Naranjo

On the topic of making history, Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo shattered barriers when she captured the country’s first and only gold medal in the Olympics in Tokyo.

Obiena believes this moment of inspiration in Philippine sports will continue to have its ripple effects—not only on his own campaign in Paris but with the entire Philippine delegation as well.

“I called it two years ago. I said there’s gonna be more Filipinos in Paris after what Ate Hidilyn has done in Tokyo. She definitely showed a whole country, a whole nation that the Filipinos can win medals in the Olympics,” Obiena said of Diaz-Naranjo’s monumental achievement.

“And with that, it creates an effect and a wave of people that believe in themselves to be able to compete,” he furthered. “And I think that’s priceless.”

That, coupled with his compatriots’ unwavering support, fueled Obiena’s desire to remain steadfast on his mission.

“Anytime you wear the Philippine flag, you know, there’s a different energy into it because you’re not just representing yourself. You’re representing a hundred and ten million all over the world. And I think with that, it comes with responsibility and morale boost,” said the second-generation athlete.

“I know there’s a hundred and ten million Filipinos who want to see me win and with that, you have enough motivation to make sure that you perform at your best.”

Redemption in Paris

Obiena did not exactly have a stellar performance in his Olympics debut in Tokyo. He finished 11th in the 2021 edition of the Summer Games, while his archrival Armand Duplantis took the shiniest medal available.

In this year’s go-round, Duplantis will inevitably serve as the final boss in Obiena’s quest once more. The Swedish-American pole vault currently holds the sport’s world record with 6.23 meters. On the other hand, the pride of the Philippines boasts a personal best of six meters, the Asian record.

The 0.23 meters that separates both vaulters may not seem much—about the length of a standard letter paper. But in a game of inches like pole vaulting, it could spell the difference between victory and defeat.

Obiena, though, doesn’t seem bothered. “It’s pole vault,” said the product of the University of Santo Tomas.

“I just have to make sure I’m in the best shape of my life, make sure I make him jump another bar. So yeah, I’m gonna keep pushing and at the end of the day it’s a competition.”

Duplantis may be his primary target, but the Pinoy athletics star isn’t looking past the other competitors either.

“I think that everybody on the field knows that everybody is capable of winning,” stated Obiena. “So for me, the strategy is to prepare the best that I can and make sure that I have the best chance, whatever it is, coming into the games.”

No doubt, Obiena soared to new heights by dominating competitions left and right leading into the grandest stage in sports. As impressive as World No. 2 is, however, Obiena isn’t settling for anything less than reaching the proverbial mountaintop.

“Of course, my goal is to win gold,” declared Obiena. “There’s nothing short of that. I set out to compete and every competition I set out to, that’s all I wanna do. I know it’s a tough competition, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The post Quest for gold: For EJ Obiena, pressure is a privilege appeared first on CoverStory.

With the close of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on Oct. 8, the Philippines can take solace in the fact that with four gold medals, it has at least matched its harvest in the 2018 edition of the quadrennial tournament held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

With 4 gold, 2 silver, and 12 bronze medals, the Philippines finished 17th of the 38 nations that participated. This is an improvement on its 19th ranking in Jakarta, when it brought home 4 gold, 2 silver and 15 bronze medals. This is also its highest ranking since it placed 14th overall in the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan. 

While this may be regarded as a lackluster performance considering the number of gold-medal contenders sent this time, the historic win of the national basketball team under head coach Tim Cone, Gilas Pilipinas, served to defuse public disappointment.

In the Philippines where basketball is a national passion, the gold medal that Gilas won on Oct. 6, the fourth for the country in the tally, is perhaps the most important. It is the first since 1962: Gilas trounced a previously undefeated Jordan, 70-60, in the men’s 5×5 basketball match held at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium.

For years the Philippine basketball team had failed to get past the elimination round; when it came to medals, it bagged a bronze in 1986, a silver in 1990, and another bronze in 1998 (a particularly memorable game for Cone, who also led that squad).

And again, the road to the basketball finals was not easy. In the group stage on Sept. 30, the Gilas boys were pummeled, 87-62, by the same Jordanian squad that they eventually beat for the gold. Because of that defeat the Philippines had to hurdle tough qualification matches including with powerhouse Iran which it beat, 84-83, thanks to the heroics of naturalized player Justine Brownlee. That win set up Gilas against host China in the semifinal. As in the game against Iran, it was Brownlee who saved the team: He sank all his five triples in the fourth quarter and completed a comeback from a 20-point deficit to dethrone the eight-time Asian Games basketball champion, 77-76.

Dejection

Earlier the Philippines’ hopes began to fade as its strongest gold-medal contenders came up short in their respective fields. Skateboarding sensation and Tokyo Olympian Margielyn Didal finished last among eight finalists on Sept. 27. Didal, who had undergone surgery on her left ankle that was fractured during the Red Bull Stake Levels tourney last year in Brazil, was evidently still bothered by her condition. She could not complete her tricks and eventually decided to skip the rest of the stage to prevent another injury.

Another heartbreaker was 18-year-old tennis sensation and world No. 195 Alex Eala, who had to settle for the bronze in her Sept. 28 semifinal match against world No. 23 Zheng Qinwen of China. Zheng, 20, advanced to the final and eventually claimed the women’s singles gold medal after defeating compatriot Zhu Lin, 6-2, 6-4.

The next day, Eala and her partner, Francis Casey Alcantara, snatched the bronze medal in the tennis mixed doubles after sweeping the duo Luksika Kumkhum and Maximo Jones of Thailand.

On Sept. 29, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nesthy Petecio made a surprising early exit when she lost her opening bout to top-seed Lin Yu Ting of Chinese Taipei via a split decision in the women’s boxing 57-kilogram category.

Elation

But the Philippines’ hopes were lifted when pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena gave his country its first gold medal on Sept. 30. No one could come close to his feat of clearing the 5.75-meter mark.

See: Obiena heads back to training with sights set on 6-meter mark

Not content with his gold achievement, Obiena proceeded to clear 5.90 meters—25 centimeters higher than what his nearest challengers could achieve—and reset the Asian Games mark of 5.70 m set by Japan’s Seito Yamamoto in 2018. (Obiena finished seventh in that tournament.) 

At home, Filipinos thought Obiena’s gold was the spark that the country’s campaign needed. 

Unfortunately, world boxing champion Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan proved too much for Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam, who lost by unanimous decision, 5-0, on Oct. 3.

Projected as a surefire multiple-medal prospect, 22-year-old Kayla Noelle Sanchez failed to get a podium finish in the women’s 50m and 100m freestyle as well as in the 50m and 100m backstroke.

But Sanchez managed to break two individual Philippine records in the 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle. Together with fellow swimmers Xiandi Chua, Teia Salvino and Jasmine Alkhaldi, she registered a new national mark in the 4x100m freestyle relay.  

Filipino American athletes Lauren Hoffman and Robyn Brown were also unable to win a medal in the women’s 400m hurdles on Oct. 3.

In the men’s 4x400m relay, the squad of Umajesty Williams, Frederick Ramirez, Joyme Sequita and Miguel Carlo Del Prado reset the national mark on Oct. 4 despite placing fifth in the final. They clocked 3:4.89 seconds, eclipsing the previous record they generated a day before (3:06.15).  

The women’s 4x400m made up of Robyn Brown, Angel Frank, Maureen Emily Schrijvers and Lauren Hoffman also ended up fifth in the final as they collectively clocked 3:40.78.

The Philippines’ first and only Olympic gold medalist, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, fell short of a podium finish in the women’s 59 kg division, placing fourth in the Oct. 2 match. But this was not the division she reigned in during the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Her usual 53 kg category was scrapped; she had to adjust to a new and heavier weight class and, at the same time, deal with other contenders who had been competing for years in that weight category.

Eumir Marcial, who is heading to the Paris Olympics, settled for silver in the men’s 80kg boxing final after bowing to China’s Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatihan by a 5-0 unanimous decision on Oct. 5. His achievement was nevertheless remarkable considering that he had to move up in weight with the scrapping of the weight class (75 kg) in which he won a bronze in the Tokyo Olympics.

Women’s jiu-jitsu

Women’s jiu-jitsu became the saving grace as Meggie Ochoa snagged the Philippines’ second gold medal after ruling the 48kg division—via advantage—over Balqees Abdulla of the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 5.

Ochoa, 33, regards this victory as special because it is her first-ever Asian Games gold. But she is already a two-time world champion, having topped her category in the 2018 Jiu-Jitsu International Federation Jiu-Jitsu World Championship in Sweden and in the 2022 JJIF Jiu-Jitsu World Championship in the UAE.

On Oct. 6, it was Annie Ramirez’s turn to bring the Philippines its third gold after defeating Kazakhstan’s Galina Duvanova, 2-0, and ruling the women’s jiu-jitsu 57kg division. Ramirez is also a three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist (in 2019, 2022, and in 2023).

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) should take note of the rest of the Filipino medal winners and consider their respective sports disciplines that may be needing more support and development: 

Arnel Mandal (silver in wushu men’s 56kg); Patrick King Perez (bronze in taekwondo men’s individual poomsae); Jones Llabres Inso (bronze in wushu men’s taijiquan/taijijian all-around); Gideon Fred Padua (bronze in wushu men’s 60kg); Clemente Tabugara Jr. (bronze in wushu men’s 65kg); Patrick Bren Coo (bronze, men’s cycling BMX racing); Elreen Ann Ando (bronze, weightlifting women’s 64kg); the team of Rheyjey Ortouste, Jason Huerte, Vince Torno, Mark Joseph Gonzales, Ronsited Gabayeron, and Jom Lerry Rafael (bronze, sepak takraw men’s quadrant); Sakura Alforte (bronze, karate, women’s individual kata); Jenna Kaila Napolis (bronze, jiu-jitsu women’s 52kg); and the team of Rheyjey Ortouste, Jason Huerte, Mark Joseph Gonzales, Ronsited Gabayeron, and Jom Lerry Rafael (bronze, sepak takraw men’s regu).

The POC sent 395 athletes who competed in 37 sports disciplines at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

The post The Philippines at the 19th Asiad: highs and lows appeared first on CoverStory.

The biggest Asian Games (Asiad) in history opens on Sept. 23 in Hangzhou, China, with over 12,000 athletes participating, or more than the 2020 Tokyo Olympics’ 11,420.

For the 395 Filipino athletes competing in 37 sports from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8, the 19th edition of the quadrennial event—which was delayed a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic—is a chance to not only score a gold-medal haul for the country but also to punch a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In the 2018 Asiad held in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Philippines took home 4 gold, 2 silver, and 15 bronze medals to finish 19th of 37 participating countries. It was a slight improvement from 22nd place in the 2014 Asiad held in Incheon, South Korea.

This time, the Philippines will miss two of its 2018 Asiad gold medalists, Carlos Yulo and Yuka Saso. World champion gymnast Yulo will compete in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Belgium on Sept. 30, a qualification event for the Paris Olympics. Saso is now a professional golfer and carries a Japanese passport.

Nevertheless, other Filipino star athletes are expected to pitch in to surpass the country’s four gold medals in 2018.

The Philippines’ first and only Olympic gold medalist, Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, will compete in the 59-kg weightlifting division (from the previous 55 kg). It’s a development she welcomes because that is the weight division in which she will be competing in the Paris Olympics, the host country having scrapped the 55-kg category.

Then there are skateboarder Margielyn Didal, a gold medalist in Jakarta in 2018, and world champion pole vaulter EJ Obiena. They will serve as the Philippines’ flag bearers at the opening ceremony this Saturday.

On a mission

Obiena will be on a mission to avenge his 7^th-place finish at the 2018 Asian Games. He is perfectly honed for it, having podiumed at every world championship he has competed in, helping him to climb to No. 2 in world ranking per the World Athletics Organization. He owns new Asian and national records, having hurdled the 6-meter height during the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway last June 10.

The 27-year-old Obiena is also the first Filipino to secure a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics, having cleared a 5.82-m jump at the Wanda Diamond League’s Bauhaus Galan meet in Stockholm last July 2.

Aside from Diaz-Naranjo, Obiena and Didal, the Philippines is pinning its hopes on golfer Lois Kaye Go, who won the women’s team gold with former teammates Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan in the last Asiad. Now joining Go is 16-year-old Rianne Malixi, who is ranked 75th in the world among amateur players.

Of course, there is Alex Eala, the 2022 US Open girls’ division champion, who will compete in the women’s singles and mixed doubles. She is No. 191 in the Women’s Tennis Association ranking and will face heavyweights like host China’s Zheng Qinwen (No. 22) and Zhu Lin (No. 31).

Other gold-medal potentials are in the Philippines’ boxing team, such as Emir Felix Marcial who will compete in the highest weight class of his career at 80 kg (more than 6 kg heavier than his pro weight class of middleweight, the organizers having scrapped the 74-kg division). Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nesthy Petecio, who turned 31 last April, considers the Asiad her last chance to get a boxing gold medal, while Carlo Paalam, also a Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, will try to win in the 51 kg category, down from the 54-kg weight class in which he used to fight.

Winning a gold and silver for these boxers means outright qualification for the Paris Olympics.

Other potentials

Swimmer Kayla Noelle Sanchez, who won two medals for Canada in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will compete in the Asiad as a Filipino citizen, the World Aquatics having given her the green light to play for the Philippines last July 6.

Sanchez, 22, will compete in the women’s 50-m and 100-m freestyle as well as in the 100-m backstroke, events in which she could end the national swimming team’s medal drought in the Asian Games. The last one to medal was Raymond Papa (bronzes in the men’s 100-m and 200-m backstroke) during the 1998 Asiad in Bangkok.

Hurdler Robyn Lauren Brown, a gold medalist in the women’s 400-m hurdles of the 25th Asian Athletics Championships in July, will try to surpass her previous achievements in recent Southeast Asian Games: silver in the 400-m hurdles in Cambodia in 2023, bronze in Hanoi in 2022, and another bronze in Manila in 2019.

Other Asian Games medals for the Philippines may come from the martial arts team, with the likes of Meggie Ochoa and Annie Ramirez (jiu-jitsu), Junna Tsukii (karate), Kiyomi Watanabe (judo), and Kirstie Elaine Alora (taekwondo) competing.

To serve as additional encouragement to the athletes participating in the Asiad, Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino pledged an extra P1 million on top of the P2-million bonus for each Asiad gold medalist provided under Republic Act No. 10699, or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act. Silver medalists will be entitled to P1 million, and bronze medalists P400,000.

“I hope this will motivate our athletes to work even harder and perform better in the Asian Games,” Tolentino said during the send-off ceremony held on Sept. 18 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

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As host country, Cambodia had the privilege of choosing which sport and how many events to include in this year’s SEA Games. The exercise of that privilege limited the Philippines from fielding more athletes and narrowed the number of events in which Filipinos could participate.

No wonder Cambodia even included indigenous sports like kun bokator that should give its athletes the advantage in the medal race. This full-contact fighting style, with roots in the Khmer Empire that ruled over much of Southeast Asia between the 9th and 15th centuries, utilizes the entire body as a weapon employing strikes, kicks, throws, joint locks, and grappling techniques.

While Cambodia left out chess despite the region needing to produce world-class players, it decided to include ouk chaktrang, an ancient form of chess played in that country since 800 AD, and xiangqi or Chinese chess. 

Yet, the Philippines was able to beat the SEA Games host at its own game. On May 4, 19-year-old Angel Gwen Derla delivered the second gold medal for the Philippines, topping the women’s bamboo shield form of kun bokator and frustrating Cambodia’s bet by 0.03 point (8.5 points vs 8.47 points).

Despite the short preparations, the Philippines still bagged one silver in the women’s 60-minute doubles category and one bronze in the men’s 60-minute Quadruple Team events of the ouk chaktrang competition. 

Heartbreaker…

In what may be regarded as a heartbreaker, the men’s Gilas Pilipinas bowed to a heavily-reinforced Cambodia team, 20-15, in the final of the 3×3 basketball event on May 7. The host country’s team, composed mainly of players eligible for the US National Basketball Association, was just too much for the quartet of Philippine Basketball Association stars Almond Vosotros, Lervin Flores, Joseph Eriobu, and Joseph Sedurifa, who settled for silver. 

Coach Lester del Rosario lamented in a postgame interview that they were caught by surprise as the names of the three naturalized (formerly American) players were excluded in the Cambodian roster.

That same day, women’s Gilas Pilipinas also settled for a silver medal after losing to Vietnam, 21-16. 

…And not

But not everything is sad news for the Philippines as Kaila Napolis beat her highly-favored foe and hometown favorite Jessa Khan in the women’s jiu-jitsu ne-waza nogi 52-kg discipline on May 4 to claim the first gold medal for the Philippines. With that win, Napolis redeemed herself from a heartbreaker against the same rival back in the 2019 SEA Games held in Manila.

Team Philippines (men’s and women’s category) completed a sweep of all four gold medals in the obstacle course race event. By grabbing all the available golds, it replicated its output in Manila when the national obstacle racers went six of six. 

As the third day of the SEA Games was about to conclude, the pair of Bien Zoleta-Mañalac and Princess Catindig gave the Philippines another gold after winning the soft tennis women’s doubles final event against the Thais, 5-2.

Completing the 14-gold haul for the Philippines last weekend, the Sibol League of Legends: Wild Rift men’s team defeated Vietnam, 3-1. The Filipino e-sports athletes scored several unanswered kills to open the match and then secured one of the game’s most important monster, Baron Nashor, to eventually take control of the game.

Golden Monday

Monday, May 8, proved fruitful for the Philippines as five golds were added courtesy of triathlete Fernando Casares, gymnast Carlos Yulo, mixed martial arts veteran Robin Catalan, swimmer Xiandi Chua, and pole vaulter EJ Obiena.

Perhaps one of the most anticipated events was Obiena’s. The two-time SEA Games gold medalist did not disappoint as he claimed his third gold medal in the men’s pole vault late in the afternoon. Not only did he top the event but he also set a new meet record of 5.65m, breaking his previous mark of 5.46m that he set in Vietnam last year.

Carlos Yulo, another athlete Filipinos are keeping an eye on, once again ruled the artistic gymnastics men’s individual all-around event with a score of 84, completing his SEA Games three-peat (he previously won in 2019 and 2021).

But Yulo’s efforts in the team event were not enough to unseat Vietnam in the artistic gymnastics men’s team all-around event. Yulo, together with Juancho Miguel Besana, Ivan Cruz, Jan Gwynn Timbang, and Justine Ace de Leon garnered just 305.25 points and settled for another silver finish behind Vietnam’s 313 points.

In the women’s 200-meter backstroke final, the Philippine swimming team completed a 1-2 finish as Chua captured the gold and Chloe Isleta the silver.

Catalan, the 32-year-old ultimate fighter, ruled the men’s combat kun bokator 50-kg event, besting Indonesia’s Ada Permana who took the silver.

Meanwhile, Casares’ back-to-back wins (his first was in 2022 in Hanoi) continue the Philippines’ dominance of the swim-bike-run event for five straight times as Nikko Huelgas (2015 in Singapore, 2017 in Kuala Lumpur) and John Leerams Chicano (2019 in Manila) also hauled in gold medals.

The Philippines’ luck did not extend to the women’s triathlon event as Kim Mangrobang fell short of bagging her fourth straight gold. She settled for a silver behind Cambodia’s Margot Garabedian, a naturalized triathlete from France who is currently 192nd in the world triathlon ranking. Mangrobang, who ruled this event in 2017, 2019, and 2021, is ranked 230th.

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His calendar was apparently so full that his mentor, James Michael Lafferty, just could not find a free slot for a brief interview with this writer. Per Lafferty, his ward was literally swamped 16 hours straight every day.

Indeed, Obiena is the man of the hour—a complete reversal of fortune from when, early this year, he was dropped from the national athletics team roster. His exclusion followed a controversial rift with his mother federation, the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa), which was triggered by claims of unliquidated expenses and failure to pay his Ukrainian coach, Vitaly Petrov.

It started in November 2021. Patafa, then headed by its president Philip Ella Juico, ordered the Italy-based Obiena to return 85,000 euros (around P4.9 million), alleging that the Olympian had falsified liquidation documents for Petrov’s salary. Obiena denied the allegation and, with his funding cut since August 2021, intimated that he was thinking of just retiring from the sport.

As though Obiena’s exclusion from the national pool were not enough, the investigative body formed by Patafa recommended in January the filing of a criminal complaint against the 26-year-old, for supposedly unliquidated 6,000 euros (P360,000). Even the legendary Petrov, 84, was not spared, as the body also recommended that a complaint be filed against him at the World Athletics, for supposed violation of the Integrity Code of Conduct. Meanwhile, Obiena’s backer and adviser, Lafferty, was to be declared persona non grata.

Winning golds, resetting records

But his winning gold medals and resetting current pole vault records quickly swayed the tide in Obiena’s favor. Sports and government officials soon interceded, convincing Patafa to defer its decision. It also helped that Juico resigned his post in June, cutting short a stint that would have ended in November 2024 (or after the 2024 Paris Olympics).

And who would not have sided with Obiena? Despite his exclusion from the national pool, he won his first gold medal of the year at the 2022 Orlen Cup held in Lodz, Poland, on Feb. 12. Eleven days later, on Feb. 23, he snatched his second gold at the Orlen Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland.

While he took the silver medal at the Perch Elite Tour in Rouen, France, on March 7, his 5.91-meter mark reset the Philippine record (5.86 meters) that he himself set in the 2021 Orlen Cup in Poland.

Obiena notched his biggest achievement so far on July 25 in the United States, taking the bronze medal at the biennial World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. This is a historic feat as he became the first Filipino to win a medal on the grandest stage in global track and field. His 5.94-meter mark also broke the Asian record (5.93 meters) that he set in Austria last year, when he erased the 5.92-meter record that Kazakhstan’s Igor Potapovich held for 23 years. 

On a gold-medal roll 

Perhaps buoyed by news of his reinstatement in the national team on Aug. 13, Obiena bagged his third gold medal at the 26th Internationales Stabhochsprung-Meeting in Jockgrim, Germany, on Aug. 24.

Five days later, on Aug. 29, he snatched his fourth gold at the True Athletes Classic 2022 in Leverkusen, Germany. His 5.81-meter mark allowed him to qualify for Hungary’s 2023 World Athletics Championships.

On Sept. 1, Obiena won his fifth gold at the St. Wendel City Jump in Germany, with his 5.86-meter mark resetting the event’s previous record of 5.71 meters. 

Then, on Sept. 3, he not only clinched his first-ever victory at the Wanda Diamond League in Brussels, Belgium, by clearing 5.91 meters, he also beat the world’s No. 1 and world record holder Armand Duplantis, who failed to reach the same mark set by Obiena.

It was a rare setback for the 22-year-old US-born Swede who has won 17 competitions, 14 of which he achieved with vaults over the 6-meter mark. Nevertheless, Duplantis still holds bragging rights for the world record mark of 6.21 meters that he set on July 24.

Obiena bagged his seventh gold of the year on Sept. 12 at the 19th Tour Stop of the Golden Fly Series in Schaan, Liechtenstein. Then he was homeward bound, arriving in the Philippines on Sept. 15.

From No. 30 to No. 3

Since Obiena’s decision in 2016 to move to the Italian town of Formia, where he trains at the IAAF World Pole Vault Centre, he has gone from being No. 30 in the world to No. 10 (September 2019), and then from No. 6 (July 11, 2022) to his current No. 3 ranking.

But make no mistake about it. Despite the gold medal he is aiming for at the Paris Olympics, he has set his sights on one other target: to break Duplantis’ 6.21-meter record. To do it, he needs that sterling combination of luck and ability. 

Obiena already has the jumping genes from his father, Emerson, who was a pole vaulter as well as previous national record holder and Southeast Asian Games silver and bronze medalist. His mother, Jeanette, on the other hand, was a hurdler.

Petrov has consistently exposed Obiena to high-level pole vault circuits where he can hone his skills and techniques. The Ukrainian coach has already produced world champions and Olympic gold winners, including Sergey Bubka, a two-time world champion and 1988 Olympic gold medalist, as well as Obiena’s contemporary, Thiago Braz of Brazil, who is the Rio 2016 Olympic gold medalist and holder of the Olympic record of 6.03 meters.

It’s now up to Obiena to make sure that the winds of fortune are always at his back.

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