By REY C. LACHICA
PARIS – The EJ Obiena show in the Paris Olympics begins Saturday, Aug. 3, at the host nation’s largest stadium – the Stade de France.
Though Obiena is dealing with what he termed “physical problems” in the past four months months or so, expect the world No. 2 pole vaulter to give his best possible performance in order for him to realize his dream of becoming an Olympic medalist.
The only thing missing in his burgeoning cabinet trophy is an Olympic medal.
Athletics boss Terry Capistrano said Obiena is handling his problem properly with the help of Dr. Raul Canlas and an Italian osteopath.
“Whatever it is, as far I know, it’s manageable,” said Capistrano.
With various factors involve, being the No. 2 player in the world is not a guarantee that Obiena will make it to the podium.
First, Obiena must hurdle the initial test – the prelims.
Of the 32 players, Obiena must finish inside the top 12 to get a chance for a medal that eluded him in the Tokyo Games that saw him place 11th.
The pole vault finals is slated on Tuesday, Aug. 5, with Obiena and the rest in the Top 10 hoping to a get slice of history.
“Anyone among the Top 10 can podium and the only guy who is ahead of the pack is Duplantis (Armand),” said Capistrano.
On the strength of being the reigning Olympic band world champion, Duplantis is once again tagged as heavy favorite to extend his reign. And he has broken the world record eight times – the last was 6:24 meters which he did last April 20 at the Diamiond League in Xiamen, China.
Obiena is yet to breach the 6.0 meters since doing it twice – the last during the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
“Yun ang suma total. So, he should be ready. Tomorrow he will compete and hopefully get into trhe finals. We don’t even want to talk about Aug. 5 yet,” added Capistrano.
On July 20, through a lengthy Instagram post, Obiena said: “If you had asked me a year ago how I would envision the “perfect” Olympic preparation, well it certainly wouldn’t be what has transpired! It has been what can only be termed a bumpy road [for] me this season.”
“I know and fully understand this can happen to athletes training at such intensity and no complaints… But why now!?,” said Obiena, adding that he has been undergoing ‘a variety of medical procedures’ which, at times, stalling his training and preparations.
“Am I feeling confident with my preparation? Well, definitely not as much as I would like! Am I doing the best I can each day? Yes and most definitely yes! Not what I wanted but we’re still standing and I still have a few more days to prepare and sharpen,” Obiena said.
And that’s the reason why he remained optimistic.
