Ernest John Obiena was yelling and pointing to his temple right after clearing 5.75 meters—on his third and last attempt—to make the finals of the Tokyo Olympics’ men’s pole vault competition on Monday.
“He knew he can still do better, he’s got enough clearance,” his mother and Philippine Athletics board director Jeanette Obiena told Radyo Pilipinas 2 to explain why her son came up with that gesture. “I know he’s not satisfied. Because he is confident he can do it.”
The elder Obiena said one aspect where EJ has made big progress with is his mental toughness. “If that was before, that third attempt may have ended differently.”
Helping him with his psychological game is Dr. Sheryll Kasuga, a Filipino sports psychologist based in the United States. She has been with EJ since he recovered from injury several years ago.
In Tokyo, EJ is under the watch of father Emerson and longtime mentor Vitaly Petrov.
“In the finals, it’s going to be very, very close. Everybody will start from scratch,” said Jeanette, referring to Tuesday’s big finale.
Jeanette was hands-on in EJ’s Olympic journey, having watched him try out the sport by using a makeshift pole out of a PVC pipe when he was little.
“But now I just text him [to ask] if he ate well and how the conditions are there,” said Jeanette. “I don’t call him because I know him very much. He wants to concentrate in what he’s doing. This is his dream in life, to compete in the Olympics.”
She said the ability to adjust to the conditions and the weather are key factors in the final.
EJ’s personal best is 5.85m, lower than some of his closest rivals, including Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, who owns the world record of 6.18m.
But just like what happened in the preliminaries—where everybody only had to clear 5.75m and not specified 5.80m—it’s going to be anybody’s game.
Or mind game, for that matter. INQ
