Philippine’s Ernest John Obiena reacts during the Pole Vault Men competition of the ISTAF INDOOR (Internationales Stadionfest) international athletics meeting on February 5, 2021 in Berlin. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / POOL / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines–On his maiden Olympic appearance, Ernest John Obiena felt this is “the strongest, the fastest I have ever been.”
But the battle, according to him, will be fought mentally.
“Mentally, I try to be as strong as I can be,” said Obiena who is competing in one of athletics’ centerpiece events like pole vault.
The reigning Asian champion and Southeast Asian Games king, Obiena is aware of the stiff competition for gold in the Tokyo Games.
Over the past year, he competed against the creme de la creme, including Swede Mondo Duplantis who owns the world record of 6.18 meters; and defending champion Thiago Silva (6.03m) who is his roommate in Formia, Italy training camp.
“I got six or seven competitions before Tokyo to truly help me get dialed in,” he told reporters during a Zoom press conference Friday.
Obiena’s personal best, 5.81m, looked far way from that of his closest competitors but in a competition that depends largely on the athlete’s condition on game time, it’s anybody’s ball game.
“It’s all fun and good,” said Obiena. “I am training twice a day. My routine has been boring as I eat, train, take a break, then train again, then sleep and repeat.
“But I continue doing what I believe will bring us to excellence,” said Obiena.
He said the long wait for his Olympic debut “hit hard” on his psyche. But at the same time, it afforded him longer time to prepare.
“With the pandemic I got stuck in a foreign country and last year when Tokyo Olympics was postponed everything came crashing down,” he said.
That posed a challenge for him to give it his everything. And that’s what’s everybody is expected of him.
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