EJ Obiena gave it his all in the pole vault finals. —REUTERS
TOKYO—At the end of a video conference on Wednesday, EJ Obiena was asked for a few words of inspiration for the people who had followed him throughout his journey toward the Tokyo Olympics.
“I’m not very inspirational right now,” he said, chuckling. “So I don’t have any message.”
He was wrong. On so many levels.
Obiena may have failed in his bid to get to the podium during the pole vault final at Olympic Stadium on Wednesday, but he managed—however unaware he was—to fire up a country with his accomplishment and his firm resolve to end his stint on his terms.
Obiena etched his name among the greats of his discipline by just qualifying for the finals. Even during the golden years of PH athletics, the greatest stars the country produced didn’t get as close to the podium as Obiena did.
Obiena finished tied for 11th in an ultra talented field that featured peerless world record holder Mondo Duplantis, who eventually bagged the gold. He flubbed a qualifying attempt at 5.80 meters, but only after a major distraction over technical issues shook his focus.
“[The incident] exhausted needed energy from him,” said Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association official Edward Kho.
Distracted final jump
But it was also in that moment that Obiena created a moment of inspiration.
As he prepared to make a final attempt at 5.80, he aborted his jump, ending his Olympic stint anticlimactically. But Obiena noticed that while the uprights—vertical beams that support the bar that vaulters leap over—were being adjusted, his time was still ticking.
“I basically asked them to move the standards to 65 when the timer was already running. I was telling them I cannot jump if the bar is moving. I said you should have at least paused the time,” Obiena said. “From my point of view, I should have gotten the time it took for [organizers] to set it up. That should have still been on my one minute.”
He pled his case—respectfully, he said—to officials, and they discussed the issue for at least five minutes.
He must have been convincing enough, because he got a re-jump. And in that moment, a wave of online supporters gushed over his ability to rise above a Filipino tendency for submissiveness, for feeling that being anywhere else in the world, especially in rich and powerful countries like Japan, diminishes one’s rights.
Fight for what’s right
“I’ve been raised to be a timid kind of guy,” Obiena said. But he refused to be limited by the culture he grew up in.
“I believe … that if I truly believe I am right, I would fight for it,” Obiena said. “And that’s basically what I just did. It just so happened that it’s an Olympic final and it got the spotlight, it got the attention. But I do this every single day.”
And he hopes that Filipinos who cheered him on would do the same under the same circumstances, never mind if the Filipino culture tends to lean on the submissive side.
“I’m very happy that people look up to or praised my actions [during the final] because I believe everybody should be able to do that,” Obiena said.
Still at a loss
“It doesn’t matter what your status is. If you’re the manager, you’re the clerk, you’re the sanitary personnel, you should be able to speak your thoughts. I’m not saying you should disrespect [anyone]. When you truly believe you’re right, there should be a right way to explain it, there’s always a right way to fight for it,” the 25-year-old vaulter added.
Obiena has little clue of what his next move will be after the Olympics, saying he wasn’t in the proper headspace just yet to make big decisions.
“At the moment, I don’t really know if I’m going to compete, if I’m still going to continue, what I’m going to do if I do this or do that. I really don’t have an idea yet,” Obiena said, saying his plans were limited to what he will do on the day.
Obiena said he still has to understand what happened to him during the Olympics.
“I wasn’t feeling like myself. I don’t know if it’s the pressure. I don’t know if there was something off in my technique. I don’t know if it’s something physical. I don’t really know because if I knew I would have been able to adjust,” Obiena said.
No regrets
“All throughout the competition, I didn’t feel like I was in control with the way I jumped. I was more kinda following what the pole asked me to do, which is unusual. I haven’t felt that for quite some time. The way I was jumping, it’s a little bit strange.”
But as much as the results were not what he had hoped for, he said he was “at peace” with the effort that he gave.
“It didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to be,” said Obiena. “It didn’t feel like I was able to do what I can.”
“I gave everything I can and I’m at peace with that,” he added. “I hope my story gives you a little hope, a silver lining,” he said.
Everyone who watched him compete got his message. INQ