By REY C. LACHICA
PARIS – Again, EJ Obiena was a heartbeat away from his Olympic dream.
But once again, Obiena failed and he apologized to his millions of Filipino fans after missing what could be a great redemption by just one jump in the finals of the pole vault in the Paris Olympics on a hot Monday night, Aug. 5, at the massive Stade de France here.
Obiena was once again heartbroken. The nation, too.
“It’s so painful. I missed a medal by one jump and it wasn’t that far,” said an emotional Obiena. “I’m sorry. I apologize for it. Thank you so much for all the support and love you’ve given.”
His fourth place was a marked improvement from his 11th place finish in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games but still it was a lost cause by any barometer.
“It’s the same, I still fell short. I think this one, is also painful just like Tokyo. And I think that makes the whole journey from Tokyo to today really worthwhile. I’ve been through a lot. Sometimes I feel I don’t deserve this, especially today.”
It was a tough night for Obiena, but not for long-time rival Armando “Mondo” Duplantis of Sweden, who retained his title in grand fashion.
Duplantis proved he belonged to a different planet by first breaking the Olympic mark of 6.03 set by Brazilian Thiago Braz with a 6.10 clearance before obliterating his own world mark of 6.24m set in China last April by sailing past 6.25m on his third and final attempt that set off a frenzied celebration.
Greek Emmaouil Karalis had the clearance as Obiena at 5.90 but took the bronze via the tiebreak. Obiena had more more attempts.
American World No. 3 Sam Kendricks bagged the silver at 5.95. He tried to beat the 6.00, barrier but failed.
The long night started beautifully for the world No. 2 Obiena as he needed just one attempt to clear the 5.50m, and 5.70m barriers to the loud cheers of a small but lively Filipino crowd.
He stumbled once in the 5.85m but opted to go for 5.90m, and he cleared with the might of a soaring eagle.
But at 5.95m, there, he looked like he was trying to scale the Mt. Everest. Very hard.
At first, he appeared to be heading to a good jump, it was high enough only to clip the bar on the way down to the disappointment of his fans.
He tried once more, but like the first one, he was unsuccessful.
Since the 12-player field was reduced to four, Obiena had one last chance to make it to the podium – either to go higher just like what he did in the prelims where after missing his first two jumps at 5.60m, he went for 5.70m that he cleared with ease.
With Filipino fans now almost sitting on the edge of their seats while praying for a miracle to happen, Obiena stuck to their game plan and went for the third and final attempt.
The cry of anguish was heard all over the massive arena the moment Obiena clipped the bar for the last time, his Olympic dream shattered once more.
Still Obiena was happy he managed to advance to the finals, and good thing, he accepted defeat positively, saying: “Not yet the end of the world.”
His defeat, however, was all about consistency.
He was lacking consistency since the start of the season.
“I think it’s just consistency overall.”
“But it’s the Olympics and it’s not gonna wait for anybody. I’m proud of the effort of my team, myself, and everybody that made this possible.”
