A powerlifter is the latest Filipino to be featured in Humans of New York, an international blog that provides insights into the lives of the popular city’s inhabitants.
Eduardo Munarriz, a 20-year-old powerlifter, is the Philippines’ representative in the Special Olympics World Games 2019 in Abu Dhabi from March 14 to 21, 2019.
He was featured in Humans of New York’s social media accounts where he shared what keeps him going as an athlete, particularly as an Olympics participant.
“I have twenty superheroes that I keep in a folder on my phone and I take it out to look at them, and I pretend that I am the leader of an entire superhero team,” Munarriz shared.
“The whole team is counting on me to get as strong as possible because I am the muscle of the team. Being the biggest is like a way to take charge. It doesn’t even matter if I have super powers because I can use my own true strength, and the barbell is like a type of weapon,” the athlete continued.
Munarriz will participate in various powerlifting events on March 20, Wednesday.
The Special Olympics World 2019 is a multi-sports event dedicated to athletes with intellectual disabilities. It is a global movement that aims to empower such people through sports.
Filipinos in the blog
Eduardo Munarriz joins the rest of Filipinos that were featured by Humans of New York photographer Brandon Stanton in his international blog.
In 2018, the photographer went to the Philippines and captured some of its citizens in different walks of life.
The project, informally dubbed the “Humans of Manila” or “Humans of the Philippines,” shared some stories of regular Filipinos Stanton encountered during his stay.
Despite the change of his usual location, he included the posts in the social media page of “Humans of New York.”
Stanton featured an ex-convict, a researcher, a university student, a cargo ship personnel, a young father and a quirky six-year-old, among others.
The “Humans of New York” is Stanton’s initiative to share stories of people he encounters in one of the world’s busiest cities.
“In New York City, there are people walking around with no money, no family and a drug addiction. All they have is their story. It’s the only thing of value that they’re carrying around,” he shared in a previous interview.
Stanton said that he wants to validate people’s stories and provide insight into their lives.
“But it takes somebody else to validate it. It takes somebody else to care about it and wonder about it for it to really have value,” he shared.