By JAN CARLO ANOLIN
Italy-based pole vaulter EJ Obiena launched a t-shirt project and collaborated with a local-based manufacturer to raise funds for frontliners battling the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Obiena, the first Filipino to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics rescheduled next year, partnered with “The Project For” for the production of the “Gravity” t-shirt.
“It actually started way back March 17. I have been trying to get in [touch] with a lot of people to be able to raise funds in this crisis,” Obiena, who won gold in the 30th Southeast Asian Games last year, told the Manila Bulletin in an online interview Sunday.
“[It] broke my heart to see how many are affected by the COVID-19, in a way that [it] hinders them from living.”
Obiena said “The Project For” gets to decide where to donate the funds. “I trust them to know where the donations should go.”
Aside from Obiena, other athletes like triathlete Kim Mangrobang, also a gold medalist in last year’s SEA Games, wrestler Jake de Leon, surfer-photographer Tarish Zamora and bodybuilder and fitness enthusiast Enzo Bonoan joined forces with “The Project For.”
The t-shirt designs can be viewed and ordered in its website theprojectfor.com.
“Gravity is just another hurdle to conquer,” Obiena’s t-shirt read, which was crafted by design director Au Arañas.
“It’s actually more of a symbolism of what I do,” the 6-foot-2 Obiena said. “I try to fight against gravity each day I train and I believe this embodies or represent the hardship that I and everyone else go [through] each day.”
Despite Italy being hounded by the pandemic, Obiena didn’t waste time after receiving news that the Olympic Training Center in Formia just opened this week. “We started to slowly go back to normal training.”