Elaine Alora hopes to kick her way at Olympics

Taekwondo jin Kirstie Elaine Alora admitted that the success of her Olympic qualification is not just an individual feat.

As the country’s remaining hope in the Asia Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the 26-year-old weathered on and stood firm for her teammates.

“With their help, nakatulong talaga as motivation dahil sinasabi nila sa akin na ako na nga yung last chance ng bansa (Being the country’s last chance, as they say, serves as a motivation for me),” Alora said. “Sinabihan nila ako na hindi pa tapos ang laban at wag akong mawalan ng pag-asa dahil nandoon pa rin ako at lalaban pa rin ako (They tell me that the fight is not yet over and that I should not lose hope because I’m still in the game and I would continue to fight).”

And she did, besting Iranian Akram Khodabandeh in the women’s 67-kg division finals to clinch her berth in Rio de Janeiro.

Alora is grateful to bring the country back to the Olympic Games after the Philippines failed to qualify in the 2012 London Olympics.

“Masaya talaga dahil walang taekwondo na nakapasok nung London. This time, bumalik kami at ako yung nakuha kaya happy talaga ako,” she said.

(I am really happy because we didn’t have a taekwondo representative who qualified in the London Olympics. This time, we returned and I qualified so I’m very happy.)

Tshomlee Go and Marie Antoinette Rivero were the last Filipinos to advance to the Olympics back in 2008. RAM

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