Philippines’ EJ Obiena competes in the men’s pole vault final of the athletics event at the Paris Olympics 2024 at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines—Team Philippines’ pole vaulter EJ Obiena on Wednesday said he has been suffering spinal issues heading into the Paris Olympics 2024 competition, where he placed fourth.
Obiena took time on Wednesday afternoon to talk about his performance in the Summer Games, days removed from his heartbreaking finish where he narrowly missed out on a medal.
With adviser James Michael Lafferty by his side, Obiena did a tell-all of his road to the Paris Olympics and it certainly wasn’t a rosy one.
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Lafferty and Obiena revealed that the latter faced a spinal injury, days before he stepped foot at Stade de France to compete against the world’s very best.
“He has had a reoccurring issue in the lumbar part of his spine, where he’s had some issues in the connective tissue, muscle spasming, pain and the inability to vault. Now, two years ago, this started, and he had a procedure done, which is called a denervation, where they they, they basically deaden the nerve that is causing all the issues, and it allows them to compete and go on without any risk to his long term health,” bared Lafferty.
“Now that denervation that was done in 2022, the nerve did grow back. Unfortunately, it grew back at a rate where he started to feel everything again here in 2024, 10 days before the Olympic Games, he’s not even vaulting,” added Lafferty.
Lafferty said Obiena and his camp had to think of a way to get the world no. 2 pole vaulter back in action and France wasn’t the place to do it.
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Instead, Obiena flew to Italy, a place where he initially got the procedure done and gave him the fix—days before his competition.
“This is known by a few people. We put EJ on a plane to Italy. In over a 24 hour period he left France, the training camp in Normandy, flew to Rome, met with the doctors, then had the procedure. Then, we put him back on a plane and back to France. He then had to take a 48-hour recovery period from the shot, and then, only then, did he start to gradually work his way back,” said Lafferty.
The rigorous flying here-and-there didn’t seem to affect Obiena much as he competed in almost top-shape form in the grandest stage of them all.
‘Rough year’
Ernest John Obiena, of Philippines, competes during the men’s pole vault final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Obiena landed in fourth place, just one spot shy of a medal-finish and it certainly broke his heart and turned him emotional.
But Obiena, as the Filipino warrior that he is, refused to use his health issues as an excuse. In fact, he said his spinal issues didn’t hinder him from performing his best in the quadrennial sporting event.
“If I’m being honest, I don’t think it hindered me from performing, at least on the day of the Paris Olympics,” said Obiena.
“We push ourselves, we push our body to limits, and things happen. Unfortunately, this year, it’s definitely been rough… But I don’t use that to say, ‘okay, that’s why the outcome was short of a medal,’” he added.
Like in the conclusion of his pole vaulting finalè in France, Obiena turned emotional again, remembering how close he was to bringing home a medal to the motherland.
With Emmanouil Karalis, Sam Kendricks and Mondo Duplantis bagging the bronze, silver and gold medals, respectively, Obiena held himself high—despite the pain—and said he believed he was fully capable of finishing on the podium.
The cards were just not there for him that day.
“I believe I’m still fully capable of doing it. I still believe I’m fully capable of winning that. And that’s what makes it painful. Even more is that I was that close. All things considered, I was that close.”