AS part of his build-up for the Paris Olympics, pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena will cut down on his events next year and would focus more on training before heading to the French capital to bid for the country’s first athletics gold medal in the Summer Games.
“Maybe two indoors and three outdoor competitions but that’s it, because it is an Olympic year,” Obiena said last week during the tribute organized by his high school alma mater, Chiang Kai Shek College, in Binondo, Manila for winning the gold medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
“My coach, Vitaly Petrov, doesn’t put priority on the indoor season so much and it is during the outdoor season where we peak,” added Obiena, who began his formal education and practically grew up on the campus before graduating from high school at CKSC in 2012.
The Asian and national record holder at six meters flat, Obiena said he and his coaching staff led by Petrov, also the mentor of Serbian compatriot and former world and Olympic champ Sergey Bubka, are eyeing four training camps before Paris, one of them in the US.
“But I can’t really reveal where they will be right now. It is not the scouting but rather having access to these facilities, choosing certain places and certain times so we are able to do the job we really need,” he explained.
“The plan is to get better. You have seen the video of my jumps in the Asian Games. That is not consistency right there. Consistency is what will lead in the best position to win (in Paris). There are a lot of things I need to work on with my technique. My speed and strength need to improve,” Obiena said.
“My mental game, there is still room for improvement there so those are the things we will try to tweak and improve and those training camps will allow us to gain more possibilities in improving certain points,” he added.
After receiving a P10 million windfall — P3 million from the school, P5 million from the Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce led by businessman Cecilio Pedro, P1 million from CKSC board chairman Johnson Tan and P1 million from Oishi head Carlos Chan — Obiena said he strives to remain grounded amid all the hoopla.
“I know that all of these can all be taken away by one bad day. I break my knee, then I’m done. It is a fact of life. This is how I keep myself grounded. I have been down before and know how it feels,” Obiena said, recalling the injury that sidelined him before the 2017 Malaysia Southeast Asian Games.
