MANILA, Philippines – An emotional EJ Obiena offered apologies after a painful Paris Olympics campaign that saw him narrowly fall short of a medal.
Obiena almost ended the Philippines’ 88-year Olympic medal drought in athletics but wound up placing fourth in the men’s pole vault final at the Stade de France.
Although Obiena made a big leap after finishing 11th in the Tokyo Games, winning an Olympic medal was the ultimate goal.
“I apologize. I promised I was going to go back after Tokyo and do better. I did, but…it didn’t change in my book. I still came up short. I’m sorry. I apologize for it,” a teary-eyed Obiena told Olympic broadcaster Cignal in an interview.
Obiena missed out on becoming the Philippines’ first Olympic medalist in athletics since Miguel White won the men’s 400m hurdles bronze in the 1936 Berlin Games as the world No. 2 pole vaulter lost the bronze to Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis.
Karalis and Obiena both registered 5.90m, but the Greek claimed the last podium spot by virtue of clearing each of the first five heights in a single attempt, whereas the Filipino committed a foul at 5.80m.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis defended his Olympic crown by shattering his own world record with a superb clearance of 6.25m, while the USA’s Sam Kendricks bagged silver with 5.95m.
“There’s a lot of things that happened this year. I’m thankful that I got to the final, definitely. But at the same time, I’m disappointed because it wasn’t far. It’s literally the same height. I missed it by one attempt,” Obiena said.
“I missed one attempt and I think that really defined the medalist to the non-medalist. Sports is beautiful but also brutal.”
Battling “physical problems” in the run-up to the Olympics, Obiena looked like his usual self when he breezed past 5.85m and 5.90m – both in one go.
Obiena, however, met his match at 5.95m as he hit the bar on his way down in all of his three attempts.
“[It’s the] consistency I’m lacking. I felt like I needed a little bit more time, but it’s the Olympics, it’s not going to wait for anybody. I’m just here doing everything that I can,” he said.
“Even with the fourth place, I’d say I’ve done everything I can to be where I’m at and I’m proud of the effort of my team, myself, and everybody who made this possible. But it doesn’t make it less painful.”
While devastated by his loss, Obiena said Duplantis, Kendricks, and Karalis were worthy medalists.
“I’m happy for everybody who got the medal, they deserve it. I’m happy for my friends. But it doesn’t give me a little bit of shade of less pain.” – Rappler.com