UST’S Ernest John Obiena is moving on from a missed opportunity to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics blamed partly on a broken pole vault.
Obiena, 21, has set his eyes on a more reachable goal, this year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia.
In his final chance of qualifying, the UST Trackster was .45 meters short of the 5.70-meter Olympic qualifying standard after he recorded 5.25 meters in the Taiwan Open last May.
Obiena, who finished second in Taiwan, said he could have done better but admitted the pressure took a toll on his performance.
“I wasn’t able to achieve what I want. I was devastated and I lost my passion for the sport,” he told the Varsitarianin an interview.
He seemed on track just six months before the Olympics when he set the national record and then-personal best 5.46 meters in the UAAP Season 78 athletics competition last Feb. 17.
A month later, Obiena broke his own mark with 5.47 meters in the Philippine National Games in Lingayen, Pangasinan, before logging his current career-high of 5.55 meters in the 78th Singapore Open Athletics Championships.
But things went downhill from there. Obiena’s pole was broken on his flight back home from Singapore, leaving him unable to compete for one and a half months.
“I lost momentum and a lot of important time,” he said.
He participated in several mini-tournaments in Europe to try to salvage his Olympic dream but to no avail.
Obiena said he regained his passion for the sport through his coach Vitaly Petrov, who he trained him for three months in Italy. He was granted a scholarship by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 2014.
“My coach [Petrov] said I aimed a little too high but learning from it is what I can achieve in the process,” said the third-year Electronics and Communications Engineering student.
Aside from Petrov, Ermerson Obiena, Ernest’s father and coach, provided extra motivation.
“He [Emerson] made me who I am today. He doesn’t need to say anything because I know he has my back no matter what,” Obiena said.
