Olympic qualification dream come true for Petecio

FILE – Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio celebrates after defeating Myanmar’s Oo Nwe Ni to claim the gold medal during the 30th South East Asian Games 2019 Women’s Featherweight (57 kg). INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon

MANILA, Philippines — Nesthy Petecio has no shortage of gold medals to show, but none of which could compare to the feat of competing in the Olympics.

Petecio, one of two Filipinas who have booked a trip to the Tokyo Summer Games in July, said making it to her first Olympics is the culmination of a life-long dream.

“For me, throughout my 13 years in boxing and with what I’ve already achieved and the gold medals in international [events], for me, aside from it (Olympics) being my father’s dream that I want to continue, this is the highest dream of every athlete,” said Petecio in Filipino on Noli Eala’s Power & Play.

“For me, all the golds I’ve won in the world [championships] and international, everything’s useless if I don’t get to compete in the Olympics. This is the peak of every athlete,” she added. “Me being an athlete won’t be complete until I compete in the Olympics.”

Petecio can now strike that off her bucket list after qualifying for this year’s Tokyo Olympics last month. She and Carlo Paalam earned Olympic berths due to their high ranking after the World Qualifiers got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 29-year-old Petecio, the women’s featherweight world champion, and Paalam, the Southeast Asian Games light flyweight champion, joined middleweight Eumir Marcial and women’s flyweight Irish Magno as the country’s Olympic boxing bets.

The Philippine boxing team is currently in Thailand after undergoing training camp in a bubble in Calamba, Laguna.

The Tokyo Olympics will from July 23 to August 8.