Cabang completes journey from walk-in to the Olympics

John Cabang is a remarkable success story for PH athletics. —PHILIPPINE ATHLETICS TRACK AND FIELD ASSOCIATION/FACEBOOK

John Cabang was a walk-in, a virtual unknown competing in the men’s 110-meter hurdles of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) weekly trials and winning the event two years ago.

In a few weeks, he’ll be wearing the PH red-white-and-blue in the Paris Olympics.

“I just tried my luck in the trials and it was all worth it,’’ said Cabang, a full-blooded Filipino who grew up in the Basque region of San Sebastian in Spain whose qualification for the Games, like Lauren Hoffman, was announced late Tuesday evening by World Athletics.

Cabang and Hoffman will accompany pole vault ace EJ Obiena in the French capital as athletics bets.

“Being there in the Olympics is surreal, I just couldn’t explain the feeling. Super happy I guess,’’ said the 22-year-old Cabang, the Philippine record holder of 13.37 seconds in the event.

Qualifying easily

He ended up ranked 29th out of 40 qualifiers on the deadline of the Olympic rankings last Sunday after punctuating his qualification journey with a victory in the Spanish Club Championships last month.

Cabang and Hoffman, the national champion in the women’s 400-m hurdles, performed well in several Olympic qualifying meets.

“It was a Herculean effort. From the outset, we set a very high expectation of qualifying four to five athletes. To date, we already have three. There’s still a slim chance albeit remote of maybe one more athlete,’’ said Patafa president Terry Capistrano.

Sprinter Kristina Knott is clinging onto the possibility of securing a Paris ticket after ranking No. 57 out of 48 qualifiers in the women’s 200 m.

The inclusion of Cabang and Hoffman has jacked up to 22 the number of Filipino athletes that will see action in nine sports in the July 26 to Aug. 11 global sports showpiece.

“This focused campaign to get our athletes to Paris is also an exercise to be able to understand, study and improve our processes in order to navigate the road to the Olympics,’’ said Capistrano.

“We hope this exercise will provide the template for the future,’’ he added.

Olympic silver medalists boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam have been designated flagbearers in the opening ceremony where fellow boxer and Olympic bronze performer Eumir Marcial is expected to be in attendance along with Obiena and gymnast Carlos Yulo.