ERNEST John “EJ” Obiena barely missed out on securing a medal in the Paris Olympics men’s pole vault event, settling for fourth place in the championship match won, as expected, by Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, early Tuesday (PH time) at Stade De France.
Despite seemingly good shots at 5.95 meters, Obiena saw the bar falling in all
three tries.
Skipping 5.95 meters after one miss and fouling in his two tries at six meters, Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis took the bronze through the countback tiebreaker over Obiena.
Obiena could have beaten Karalis for the bronze if he cleared 5.95 meters.
The United States’ Sam Kendricks, who cleared 5.95 meters in just one try, took
the silver.
Being the only player to clear six meters, Duplantis decided to go first for Thiago Braz’s Olympic record of 6.03 meters by telling the staff to set the bar at 6.1 meters.
In just one try, Duplantis broke the record with ease.
He then tried to break the world record that he set in Xiamen, China in April and right on the final attempt of the night, Duplantis completed the 6.25-meter jump to the delight of the jampacked crowd.
Despite bowing out just before the podium finish formalities, Obiena finished remarkably better than his 11th-place stint in 2021 Tokyo.
It also came amid a back injury that he suffered during the buildup that nearly sent him to early elimination.
EJ Apologizes
In an interview after his game exit, Obiena turned emotional and apologized for falling a tad short for a podium finish.
“I apologize. I promised I was going to go back after Tokyo and do better. I did, but it didn’t change in my book. I still came up short. I’m sorry. I apologize for it,” Obiena emotionally expressed.
“I missed one attempt and I think that really defined the medalist to the non-medalist. Sports is beautiful but also brutal,” the Filipino vaulter added.
Despite his loss, Obiena is still happy for his fellow pole vaulters who finished with medals and said that they deserve it.
“I’m happy for everybody who got the medal, they deserve it. I’m happy for my friends. But it doesn’t give me a little bit of shade of less pain.” Obiena expressed.
I Will Be Back
The world No. 2 pole vaulter also penned a heartfelt message on his Facebook account.
“In sports with three podium places, perhaps 4th is the harshest place to be. I am heartbroken that a single failure cost me and cost a nation I so deeply love—the podium,” Obiena wrote.
He also thanked everyone who has followed and supported his journey in the Olympics.
Although Obiena did not say he will see action in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, he explicitly promised to get back on his feet.
“Carlos Yulo has already made this an Olympics to remember and I salute him. I am sorry I didn’t join him on the podium but I will be back,”
he vowed.
Earlier in the day in the Paris’ metropolitan area, Lauren Hoffman crashed out of the women’s 400-meter hurdles event.
Hoffman clocked 58.28 seconds, way behind a pack of six runners who were just at most 0.6 seconds apart from each other in Heat 3 of the repechage.
Shana Grebo of France gave the hometown crowd something to cheer about as she won the heat with a time of 54.91 seconds, while Anna Ryzhykova of Ukraine finished second in 54.95 to seal the last two berths in the semifinals.
Philippine athletics’ hopes to land a Paris Olympics medal were dashed after John Cabang Tolentino withdrew from the repechage of the 110-meter hurdles due to an injury. / Jerry Yubal, VSU intern with PNA