This year’s Olympics is gearing up to be one of the biggest ever in Philippine history. With Hidilyn Diaz’s gold, Nesthy Petecio’s and Eumir Marcial’s assured podium placement, and a whole lot of hopefuls (plus Margielyn Didal’s positivity!), Pinoys have a lot to celebrate. That includes another podium contender: pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, a.k.a. EJ Obiena, currently No. 6 in the world rankings. Here are some fast facts about the Philippines’ pole vaulting representative:
Sports is in his blood
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Both of his parents were athletes. His father Emerson was a pole vaulter who won the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games silver and bronze medals, while his mother Jeanette was a hurdler in college.
His sister is also in the sports scene, joining pole vaulting like EJ and his father.
So he started pretty young
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After watching his father leap heights in his childhood, EJ entered pole vaulting when he was just eight years old. But before dedicating his life to pole vaulting, EJ actually tried his hand (or feet?) in hurdles first. He shifted his focus to pole-vaulting in high school after he wasn’t able to reach the regional meets for hurdles.
He’s a Thomasian
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He actually received scholarships for both University of Santo Tomas and Ateneo de Manila University, but he chose to go to UST. He represented his school in the UAAP.
He already surpassed his dad’s record
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His father, a former national record holder, had a 4.95-meter record in 2014. EJ has already surpassed this with his 5.25-meter leap in the 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore.
He’s training under a world-class coach
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EJ’s coach is Ukranian Vitaly Petrov, who has taught pole vaulters who eventually became Olympic gold medalists. One of Petrov’s students is 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Thiago Braz of Brazil, who EJ is good friends with.
He was actually injured before a major tournament
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Right before the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia, EJ suffered an ACL injury that prevented him from competing.
But he made a comeback
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Two years after his injury, EJ came back stronger than ever. He reset the national outdoor record thrice in one year. And by the time the 2019 SEA Games came around, EJ was able to bring home a gold medal.
His current personal record, which is also the current national record, is 5.87 meters. He cleared this just last June 30, less than a month before the Tokyo Olympics.
He already got us a lot of golds
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Since he started competing internationally, EJ has already brought home several medals. He won silver in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, while he placed 3rd in the 2017 Asian Championships in India. In 2019, he won three gold medals in just one year: the Asian Championships in Qatar, the SEA Games in the Philippines, and the Summer Universiade in Italy.
Aside from bagging a medal in the Tokyo Olympics, EJ is aiming to beat the 5.92-meter Asian record set by Igor Potapovich of Kazakhstan 29 years ago. We’re rooting for you!
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