EJ Obiena gave the Philippines its first gold medal in the 23rd Asian Games but the event was extended to, I guess, 30 more minutes because he needed to do something.
The dude wants to break the Asian Games record.
And yeah, he did.
Obiena easily propelled himself to the sky and landed past the 5.90-meter mark with a lot of room to spare.
With that said, he wanted to do 6.02 meters.
Easier said than done.
What started as a battle for the gold medal turned into a battle with himself because with or without competition, breaching six meters is hard.
While yeah, he failed all of his three attempts, Obiena was still able to mentally prepare himself in front of a stadium filled with fans. As it stands, Obiena is at number two, sandwiched between Sweden's Armand Duplantis and USA's Christopher Nilsen. He got the second spot barely a month ago and at the start of the year, he was still at number three. "Practicing" in front of a crowd with nothing to lose and everything to gain is such a rarity. Not only does this mean that he is a cut above the rest, but it also means that he is zeroing in on a more important challenge.
In September 2021, he was ranked sixth in the world, and at the start of 2019, Obiena was at number 62.
So yeah, in some ways, you get why Obiena wanted to break his record after setting it a mere minutes ago.
And to think the Track and Field body wanted Obiena and his coach out a couple of years ago.
Anyway, now that he is track and field royalty alongside Lydia De Vega and Elma Muros, it's time for Obiena to set his sights on the Olympics. In terms of Olympic chances, Obiena is up there alongside Hidilyn Diaz, Carlos Yulo, and Eumir Marcial.
Congratulations on the win!