Last PH medal hope opens bid

LONDON—The last Filipino medal hope joins the fray Wednesday along with a token entry in athletics  as the country rounds out its participation at the 30th London Olympics here.

On Daniel Caluag’s shoulders rests salvation for the Philippines’ unremarkable campaign in the world’s biggest sporting stage as he competes in the seeding run of cycling’s BMX competition in the afternoon at a $20-million dirt track in Olympic Park.

And steeplechase marvel Rene Herrera, so resigned to his fate in a track event that has never been his specialty, vies for the crumbs in the first of two elimination-round heats in the 5,000 meters at Olympic Stadium.

Asia’s former No. 1 Marestella Torres was still in the thick of the fight for one of the 12 semifinal berths in women’s long jump at press time. A leap longer than her national  record of 6.71 meters would be enough to send her to the next round, according to her coach Joseph Sy.

The Filipino-American Caluag, 25, is among the dark horses in the BMX race which has a starting field that includes seven of the world’s top 10 riders as well the Beijing 2008 gold medalist and the Supercross World Cup winners.

He launches his bid down a 45-degree ramp at exactly 3:40 p.m. (10:40 p.m. in Manila) in a timed one-lap spin over the tough 440-meter track to determine placings for the actual eight-man heats.

The stunning defeat of boxer Mark Anthony Barriga to Kazakhstan’s Birzhan Zhakypov in the second round of the light flyweight bout Tuesday last week left Caluag as the only Filipino with a realistic chance of posting a podium finish in these Games.

“I want to succeed, I want this whole thing to be a success,” said the California-based Caluag after returning from a 90-minute test run at the track in Stratford.

“I feel as if I’m home right now. It has a little bit of everything I want (in a track),” added the the 5-foot-6, 170-pound son of immigrants physicians from Bulacan and Nueva Ecija. “I enjoyed practicing at the track. It’s really good.”

Caluag, accompanied at the track by his mechanic wife Stephanie and coach Jason Richardson, joined in mock races with the rest of the field and took notes of the sharp turns and the dangerous jump lips that could ruin one’s timing.

After the chilly, drizzle-drenched test run, Richardson and Caluag viewed a videotape of Caluag’s practice heat and then formulated strategy for Wednesday’s time trial.

“Danny’s ready for the races,” said Richardson, who has worked with his ward for three fruitful years and saw Caluag rise to No. 1 among pro riders in the United States. “He’s as ready as he’s ever been. He likes the track and that matters a lot.”

Richardson said Caluag needed more control of his Speedco bike at the down ramp to have a chance of bolting into the lead early, or at least to keep in touch with the pacesetter.  He predicted the quickest rider to post a time of at least 37 seconds Wednesday.

Australia’s world No. 1 Sam Willoughby and Latvia’s reigning Olympic champion Maris Strombergs are the favorites to bag the gold in the event which debuted in Bejing 2008.

Caluag goes into the seeding run having raced with all the top guns before last year, when his world ranking plummeted to No. 84 for lack of competition stints. The Nursing student from Lindsey College in California expects to graduate in 2014.

“The big names are all there,” said Caluag. “We all saw each other again at Olympic track. We’ve all been practicing together in Birmingham for this big one.”

The seeding run is designed to ensure that the fastest riders won’t be grouped together for the quarterfinal races which are held over five laps, with points awarded for place in each run. After three runs, the best two riders from each quarterfinal race go to the semifinals.

The remaining riders compete in the final two quarterfinal runs, with the best two from each race advancing to the semifinals, which is a three-run format.

The top four riders from each semifinal dispute the gold medal in a one-run final.