Filipinos celebrated EJ Obiena‘s significant rise in his rankings despite falling short in the men’s pole vault final at the Paris Olympics 2024.
The World No. 2 pole vaulter on Tuesday (Philippine time) missed his chance to clear 5.95 meters after three tries, landing him in fourth place.
The lower part of EJ’s body hit the bar on his third attempt.
Swedish Armand Duplantis, the World No. 1 pole vaulter, took home the gold medal.
American Sam Kendricks won silver, while Greek Emmanouil Karalis bagged bronze.
EJ previously shared that he had been battling “various physical ailments” days before the Summer Games.
The 28-year-old pole vaulter apologized for failing to bring a medal to his country, admitting that it was “painful” for him.
“I missed a medal by one jump and it wasn’t far on all my attempts at [5.95m],” he said in an interview with One Sports.
“I apologize. I promised I’m gonna go back after Tokyo [Olympics] and do better. I did, but it didn’t change in my book. I still came up short. I’m really sorry. I apologize for it,” Asia’s top pole vaulter added.
Despite falling short, EJ’s rank significantly rose from 11th place in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 to fourth place in the Paris Olympics 2024.
This was noticed by some Filipinos who continued to pat his back despite failing to bring home a medal.
“When talking about the Olympics with your children, aside from Carlos Yulo, pag-usapan niyo din si EJ Obiena!” child development specialist Tina Zamora said on August 6.
Carlos is the first ever Filipino to have brought home two gold medals from the Olympics.
“Having a Growth Mindset is also talking about working hard, striving for the medal, failing to get it, learning from the failure and mistakes, then training again for the next challenge… a journey that all athletes go through, including gold medalist Carlos Yulo,” she added.
“He may not have gotten a medal, but if you see EJ’s trajectory, he was 11th in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and now, he is 4th in Paris! That in itself is growth and progress! Mabuhay ka, EJ!” Tina said.
Another Facebook user reflected that EJ was “carrying a lot” on his shoulders as a Pinoy pole vaulter.
“Imagine carrying the hopes and dreams of an entire country who hasn’t seen a Filipino claim a medal in an Olympics athletics event for 88 years, in a sport very few participate in, and almost no one is passionate about,” creative director Gerry Cacanindin said on Facebook.
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which the athlete vaults over a long horizontal bar, launching themselves into the air and seeking to clear the greatest height without knocking the bar to the ground.
“Yet EJ Obiena made the rounds of the international circuit, winning what he can, promising to do better at the #ParisOlympics2024 after finishing 11th in Tokyo in 2021,” Gerry added in his post.
“He is the lone bemedalled pole vaulter in a country where many of his fellow Filipinos have probably never heard of the sport. EJ came to Paris touted as ‘World Number 2’ which naturally heightened his countrymen’s expectations,” Gerry continued.
He then called EJ “one of the greatest pole vaulters alive today” despite coming short of winning a medal.
“That is worth cheering for, regardless of EJ’s final standing. Mabuhay ka, EJ!” Gerry said.
Another Filipino told EJ to “don’t lose heart” despite falling short at the games.
“We [are] proud of [you], EJ and to all of you who represent our country, Philippines,” a Facebook user said.
“We can see all of you [sic] the dedication and determination that you guys put on it [sic] to represent our country, [you] are already gold for us… ‘wag panghinaan ng loob,” the user added.
“Imagine getting injured during training and still coming out fourth worldwide. EJ OBIENA, YOU DID AMAZING AND PROVED YOURSELF EVEN BEFORE THE OLYMPICS,” another online user said.
Another Pinoy reflected on what EJ has gone through in his athletic career so far.
“EJ Obiena, [you] are the best in the PH [and] Asia, world #2 despite not much funding, jumped [seven] places from Tokyo 2020 rank, made more Pinoys aware of the sport, faced gov’t officials who tried to drag you, represented the PH numerous times. Always proud kami sa’yo!!” the user said.
EJ is Asia’s top pole vaulter who notched a year-best clearance of 5.97 meters last June and won a historic silver in the World Athletics Championships almost a year ago in Hungary.
Last year, he became the first Asian pole vaulter to enter the elite “six-meter club” after achieving a milestone at the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway.
This made EJ a member of an elite group that includes legendary athletes like Armand, Sergey Bubka and Thiago Braz.