FULL VIDEO: Obiena bares injury in loss at Paris 2024 Games

The Manila Times

FULL VIDEO: Obiena bares injury in loss at Paris 2024 Games  A recurring nerve injury on his back hampers EJ Obiena's preparation for the Paris Olympics men's pole vault competition where the Filipino ace missed the podium with a fourth place finish. Obiena himself confirmed the injury  in an online press conference on Aug. 7, 2024.  Zoom Presscon of EJ Obiena  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes  #sports  #ejobiena  #paris2024

Transcript

00:00:00to and when the you know his own federation was was uh certainly not supporting him i had to

00:00:07testify in both the house of representatives and the senate i made the same statement both i said

00:00:12e.j obienna is a world-class athlete but he's even a better human being and i will stand behind that

00:00:19with 1000 this is a person who's not just a great athlete but he's he's an incredible human being

00:00:25and um you know he put a post out about 12 days before the olympic games a bit of a cryptic post

00:00:34he put on his facebook and instagram where he alluded to some struggles and some health challenges

00:00:41and that he would do his very best now that was kept vague on purpose because anything he says

00:00:48uh at that time goes right to his competition and obviously he doesn't want to disclose if

00:00:54he has a significant medical issue this is not something you want to disclose you can either

00:00:59withdraw which e.j was never going to do or you can basically stay vague but to tell everything

00:01:06would be foolish because it it plays into the hands all of these pole vaulters are friends

00:01:12they all know each other but when they get onto the arena they're all lions and they're all

00:01:16fighting okay so we kept the vague uh e.j's a bit too humble to really say anything but you know

00:01:24it's been a frustration of mine we've seen through these olympics which is not uncommon

00:01:28a number of athletes pull up and pull out and have various injuries of certain sorts but

00:01:34what e.j went through in the 10 days leading up to olympic games is quite a shock uh he has had a

00:01:41reoccurring issue in the lumbar part of his spine where he's had uh some issues in the connective

00:01:46tissue muscle spasming pain and the inability to vault now two years ago this started and he

00:01:53had a procedure done which is called a denervation where they they they basically deaden the nerve

00:02:00that is causing all the issues and it allows him to compete and go on without any risk to his long

00:02:06term health now that denervation that was done in in 2022 the nerve does grow back and unfortunately

00:02:15it grew back at a rate where he started to feel everything again here in 2024 so this whole season

00:02:22has been great inconsistency and having to take days off and having to take medications now

00:02:29uh 10 days before 12 days before the olympic games it got so bad that he was unable to vault

00:02:36and he couldn't even run with the pole and so what we did is we searched for a doctor and

00:02:43basically a neurosurgeon in france who would administer the only thing we could do was either

00:02:48pull out or have an injection of a cortisone derivative uh some type of cortisone to take

00:02:55out the inflammation deaden a bit the pain so that he could go into competition and even that's far

00:03:01from perfect nobody in france would take this situation because the doctors all said we don't

00:03:07know him and this is a procedure that's done in an operating room under a fluoroscope so the needle

00:03:13can be guided into the direct spot that needs to be guided so for for a doctor to agree to do it

00:03:19they need an mri they need an operating room they need a fluoroscope and they need an anesthesiologist

00:03:25because he can't move during the procedure so there is anesthesia that's administered so it's

00:03:31it's it's not a simple procedure just a shot it's done in a very delicate area where they can't hit

00:03:37the nerve and they have to put in the right position so 10 days before the olympic games

00:03:42he's not even vaulting and we had no opportunity to evolve so what did we do none of you know this

00:03:48this is probably known by a few people uh we put ej on a plane to italy uh in over a 24-hour period

00:03:56he left france left the training camp in normandy flew to rome met with the doctors had the procedure

00:04:03done then we put him back on a plane brought him back to france he then had to take a 48-hour

00:04:08recovery period from the shot and then only then did he start to gradually work his way back

00:04:14the fact that he competed in my opinion is amazing the fact that he came in fourth is beyond amazing

00:04:22i mean he couldn't even carry his phone we we've looked at it and ej can share more he only got

00:04:27one workout session in with the pole before the olympic games and now when you look what happened

00:04:32in the olympics and certainly in the olympic final i was there he cleared the height of 595

00:04:39on all of his attempts what he did was he came down a bit too close to the pole and he knocked

00:04:45the bar off on the way down this is a small adjustment that if he had had the adequate

00:04:52practice time these are the small nuances that would have been worked out i mean he was still

00:04:56adjusting to the pole adjusting to the pit adjusting to that situation i can't even state

00:05:03how proud i am of this of this guy and proud to know him proud to work with him proud to

00:05:09to you know be a part of his team the toughness and the unwillingness to make excuses i mean i

00:05:16think everybody should be so proud of him and that's the real story i don't think anybody else

00:05:20in the paris olympics was flown out of paris in the middle of the night to a doctor in another

00:05:26country and then fought and then flown back that's what he went through behind the scenes

00:05:31uh he never wanted to really tell anyone about that but i think that that you should know the

00:05:36real story of what he went through and how amazing that fourth place is so that's really all i have

00:05:43to say i know ej's probably upset with me for sharing this but i believe that you know people

00:05:50should know and and what he went through to do his very best and what he ended up with is just

00:05:56downright shocking and amazing and deserves our respect and our applause uh thank you for listening

00:06:04to my rant there for a minute and i will turn it over to ej himself thank you yeah i mean you know

00:06:11if i'm i'm going to be realistic it's probably a year i didn't expect this to happen it's this

00:06:19year um but you know um sports you never know we push ourself and push our body to the limits and

00:06:28things happen and um fortunately this year um it's definitely been rough i would say since

00:06:37right after indoors even indoors like just things after things and things after things it's um

00:06:44um yeah it's uh the reality of it but i don't use that to say okay that's that's why the outcome

00:06:54was short of a medal um i believe i'm still fully capable of doing it i still believe i'm fully

00:07:00capable of winning that and um that's what makes it painful even more is that i was i was that close

00:07:08all things considered i was that close and yeah um

00:07:16yeah anyway i think a lot of people have questions um yeah i'll i think i'll let you

00:07:21guys um do the do the asking and i'll answer everybody's questions as much as i can um

00:07:28yeah i think i've i've said quite a bit um both here and uh on my social medias and um

00:07:35yeah i'm open to any questions

00:07:44ej okay let's go to the q a rose and and uh if you guys can put into the chat

00:07:52uh your questions we'll just take them one by one and rose if you can moderate please

00:07:57please yeah okay hold on

00:08:05okay from poc um you've consistently pushed the boundaries in pole vaulting what's a new

00:08:12challenge or goal you're setting for yourself beyond your height perhaps in training technique

00:08:17or even mentoring other athletes my goal right now is to hopefully hold my world ranking um

00:08:29we'll see um i still don't know exactly what i'm gonna be um faced um after this we'll see how

00:08:38it goes um there's a few competitions still lined up for me this season we'll um we'll

00:08:43deliberate and regroup and try to understand um you know the possibilities of of all of these

00:08:51um yeah other than that i mean mentoring kids i think coaching is not not yet on my table and i

00:09:01really have respect to all the coaches out there it's a it's a hard job to do um i think being an

00:09:08athlete still is easier than being a coach so i'm just happy to hopefully provide opportunities

00:09:14for the next generation that's all um i want to do so yeah we've i know that we raised enough

00:09:21funds and now we're we're trying to look for a place where we're gonna donate um can donate the

00:09:29pit you know some bolting poles to a province some in the philippines where pole vaulting

00:09:34definitely yes uh you know lack of equipment but not lack of talent for sure so well i want

00:09:41to do that um we'll definitely do that it's not even i want anymore else that will happen

00:09:48all right uh that's from poc and they they want to let you know that

00:09:53poc team is behind you all the time and thank you so much jay yeah from tv5

00:10:01uh um can you

00:10:06can you clarify what the spine injury was called can you describe how it felt for you

00:10:10did you have difficulty walking was there any point you felt like you're giving up

00:10:17and um just a follow-up and how's the spine injury during the final

00:10:21um so it's a it's a facet problem it's the small joint at the back um it's between the l4 l5

00:10:33region but it's not just one facet joints multiple facet joint and those things have

00:10:40sensory nerves and those nerves get triggered and irritated and with that they cause spasm

00:10:47inflammation restrictive movements and all these things um

00:10:54this this has been reoccurring this season um quite a bit i was in the u.s when it first started

00:11:02uh yeah i mean if you you watch closely the competition in la um every time i walk out

00:11:10of the pit it was very slow it's not because i was trying to to slow it down i can't move

00:11:16right away after i jump i it spasms it lapsed up and sometimes it doesn't relax and sometimes it

00:11:25does you i wish there was a there was a specific point that i know okay this time it's gonna lock

00:11:33this time it's gonna move so um we've got we've tried a lot of things to try and manage it um

00:11:42but not a lot of things really work um the inflammation was there and it's very

00:11:46visible in all those scans that i took um we didn't know what exactly is causing this

00:11:52even until now this um this is an irritation um but there's always you can always get

00:12:02ablation again of the nerves but then you're facing again a question of okay should you do

00:12:10the ablation if it's something you know pain is a signal uh that means there's something wrong and

00:12:16if you're just cutting the nerves you're just getting the pain signal and yeah um probably

00:12:20it's not olympics i wouldn't do it um but it is olympics um it's the biggest sporting stage so

00:12:28how i feel um basically if it's in the bad desert days you can't run um it's not that you have a

00:12:38problem you feel it when you're walking it's um a bit of an issue but you can walk it's not like um

00:12:47it's not like i'm in wheelchair or anything no i can walk um maybe i can jog a little bit but when

00:12:53it's really bad i do remember even jogging i feel it like i can't really run um definitely

00:13:01out of the picture um running running can happen um i think when it's not that inflamed

00:13:09it's in the middle like like one to ten how bad the spasm is if it's at five you can run

00:13:17yeah um but if i i'm being honest i don't think it hindered me to perform um at least on the day

00:13:26of paris olympics i don't think it it hindered me to perform um my um how do you say this like

00:13:35if i'm analyzing everything in a very um without any emotion and just pure reality of things i

00:13:41think it did affect me but not on the competition day it affected my preparation going in and

00:13:46affected my consistency it affected i think my overall program going into paris it was not

00:13:54the goal was not to jump 590 or just jump 590 or try to win um that's the reason why you know

00:14:03if you see the years coming from tokyo i've progressed and uh i wanted to jump six meters

00:14:09because i want to come closer and closer and uh yeah the winning bolt um the first winning bolt

00:14:14at least was six meters and i knew that that was what's going to separate a lot of the guys and um

00:14:21yeah going into the season i wanted to be consistent to that um yeah but

00:14:30things happen all right okay um will the spine injury be a challenge moving forward in your

00:14:36future sports event and i guess the most important questions that we are all waiting for is

00:14:42is 2028 olympics still part of your plan can you repeat the first part okay

00:14:49will the spine injury be a challenge moving forward in your future sports events

00:14:58um you know it really depends um we're still figuring it out um yeah so as i said you can

00:15:05always get the ablation but is it the smart thing to do long term and i think when i say long term

00:15:12that's also my health my overall health i think also that's for the next years of my career and

00:15:19all of these things um for now i think i'm still like processing a lot of it i thought i was ready

00:15:26and everything and things um as they pass i think i understand more and more what um how to say

00:15:36what i feel and how i think i want to go and move forward i'm taking it one day at a time still

00:15:43yeah that's why i'm already looking for my competitions and the rest of the season

00:15:48so there's a lot of um how do you say there's a lot of um avenues to look at it and yeah but now

00:15:57now there's no reason to be on pain medicine and try to compete so let's try to fix the problem and

00:16:04yeah let's see if um that's what the doctor thinks finish this season that's what we're

00:16:10going to do um we're not going to be doing any risks um for my health and uh long-term

00:16:16health plans and yeah we'll uh yeah we'll definitely take it from there

00:16:22yeah okay so are you going to skip some tournaments and just uh join the major ones

00:16:30um i mean i'm not really joining any small tournaments this year um i think i've chosen

00:16:36a lot of high-level competitions um it's been uh it's been a very um tough um season for me

00:16:45i think um overall i felt like i was just getting maybe two three sessions i would say

00:16:52three sessions before olympics that i started to be able to stitch together myself and

00:16:57get a kind of a good bearing of what what i can do and i think it definitely showed in the qualities

00:17:04and even the final um the lack of um consistency repetitions um that because of all these problems

00:17:15yeah i i i can promise you guys i did everything that i can um with all the circumstances i've

00:17:24dealt with and um you know uh i'm definitely proud of what what i've achieved but like i

00:17:32said it doesn't really lessen the the disappointment and pain um of coming in fourth

00:17:41every other olympics 590 would have meddled

00:17:46one miss at 580 that didn't even matter um cost me a podium finish um it is it is sport it can be

00:17:57yeah can be beautiful and brutal at the same time all right you also posted about the trouble

00:18:04transporting your poles or equipments did it cause problems during your preparations

00:18:14i wouldn't say um well it definitely doesn't help the snaps and poles um but

00:18:28yeah it's not it's not i wouldn't say it's not it's not an excuse um it's part of the sport

00:18:33i guess um the troubles of transporting poles and all of these things and you know i need to

00:18:40i need to how do you say um face reality that we're not um you know we're not the americans

00:18:47i don't have five sets of poles um those things are not cheap and um yeah it's um it's it's part

00:18:54of part of the journey um we're dealt with what we have and we we maximize what we can produce out

00:19:03of it and um yeah it's it's part of um it's part of being an athlete part of being a filipino athlete

00:19:13yeah so this one from daddy victoria um you've spoken about the challenge of being a pole

00:19:21vaulter and living away from home would you recommend this path to other filipino

00:19:25athletes any advice for young months young ones inspired by your olympic journey

00:19:36that's a tough one um to recommend the lifestyle that i'm doing um

00:19:42um

00:19:46that's it's tough it's tough to honestly say for everybody but uh yeah it's definitely not it's not

00:19:52something that i think you should just half-heartedly decide on this is something

00:19:59i don't think it would take a lot from you more than you think um you need to be able to be

00:20:03committed you need to be able to understand the facts of it you need to realize that you know

00:20:09that time passes and you know your family your friends you're it's not gonna be like

00:20:16oh i stay in in baguio it's just a i don't know five hour bus ride going back to manila

00:20:23no this is a full-time dedication you need to do what needs to be done and um yeah i think if you're

00:20:30committed to what you want to achieve and you truly believe that's the path that you need to take

00:20:36then you should do it definitely um i don't tell you to not do it because it's hard no you should

00:20:42do it because it's hard and not a lot of people can do it and if you are committed to it i believe

00:20:49that you should um am i just gonna throw it out there and in the works and say oh you should

00:20:57do what i've done this is the path to success no i think i would not because i in good conscience i

00:21:05can't say that everybody should do what i'm doing it's not a balanced life it's a it's not

00:21:12the most ideal um and as much as um as i said this life of ours is beautiful it can be brutal so

00:21:23you know nothing is guaranteed in this world and um every day um like like i said you know

00:21:29olympics and every day you need to show up and you need to perform when you need to perform and um

00:21:36yeah yeah let me let me add i want to add something to to give you i think external

00:21:41observers perspective that you know i've worked with the national team in the philippines and

00:21:46track field on and off since 2000 probably seven or eight and you know you ask any athlete you

00:21:53want to go to the olympics and win a medal they say yes it's not a question of what they want

00:21:58the question is are they prepared to pay the price so there was once time this guy on the

00:22:02national team who told me he wanted to go to the olympic site and i said are you really prepared

00:22:06to do what it takes and he said yeah and we talked it through and the next day at practice

00:22:12at rizal stadium he showed up with a bag of jolly b french fries and i looked at him i said do you

00:22:18really think this is what world-class athletes are eating is french fries do you believe that

00:22:25and you know he kind of didn't say anything i said look this is the this is what separates

00:22:29ej and maristela torres from everybody else they were so disciplined so i'll tell you an ej story

00:22:36three hours after the olympic final we had a little get together with with patafa and and you

00:22:43know some of some of the other federations and some of the other folks called you ej's parents

00:22:47and that we're in this restaurant in france and he's he's down okay as you know this is only a

00:22:54couple days ago and so we're in this restaurant and i say what do you want to eat and he looks

00:22:58at me kind of like check for confirmation he said i think i'm gonna have the cheeseburger

00:23:04and i said go ahead you know you've earned it and he ordered the cheeseburger and when he took the

00:23:10first bite he looked over and he said you know it's been three years since i've had a bite of

00:23:14any kind of bread you know because that's not part of his diet you know the the discipline

00:23:20of this individual he was here on christmas day this past christmas we were sitting in my house

00:23:27opening presents at nine o'clock in the morning in dubai he looks at me and he said i wonder what

00:23:32mondo is doing right now and i said well i have no idea but i'll bet he's celebrating christmas

00:23:38and he said why don't we go to the gym because i need to do more than he does and by 10 o'clock

00:23:45in the morning ej and i had opened the gym and we're working out on christmas day you know at

00:23:51many times i've told him after he won competition i said why don't you go have one piece of pizza

00:23:56with your friends and he would refuse this is the discipline this is the life he's had you know i've

00:24:02been with him in italy you know he lives alone he goes home eight hours a day of the same routine

00:24:07every day no family no support cooking his own meals and never having a beer with his friends

00:24:15never having a coca-cola never having a bag of french fries never having any hallow hallow

00:24:21never having any white rice for years and that's why he's hesitant but that's the price you have to

00:24:27pay to go all the way to the top the price you know we see we see the beauty of it and we see

00:24:33the glamour and the newspaper stories and the articles he's living a life of total discipline

00:24:41and he felt bad about having one cheeseburger after the olympic final think about all the

00:24:45food we're all all of us on this call think of the food we're putting into our bodies we don't

00:24:50even have a an ounce of regret he he's looking at only eating perfect stuff so i think you know

00:24:56i've seen his discipline he's breathtakingly disciplined it's just on another league he never

00:25:03misses the workout never misses anything never cheats on anything never has a cheat meal and that

00:25:08that's the stuff that i think what makes him hesitant to talk about it because it's not an

00:25:13always any you know again we see the glamour he sees the reality it's a tough life and very few

00:25:19athletes in my view are really prepared to pay the total price all right next question is you're

00:25:25now 28 your window is still open but there's an end in sight what's next for ege again both in

00:25:31and out of sports to be honest for polo 32 is still pretty young um tim mack won his um

00:25:43first olympic gold in athens when he was already 33 um sam is already 32 and he has his best finish

00:25:51just yet um polo this uh such a complex sport it takes a lot of years um perfecting the movement

00:26:00and believing and having that consistency and trusting yourself and all of these things

00:26:05mondo started at a very young age i started at a very young age but we i think the difference

00:26:11that we took different paths um he was born in a family that has the knowledge already of

00:26:16pole vaulting i was born in a in a family that loves pole vaulting loves the sport but for being

00:26:24honest lacks the foundation of the complete foundation of it and i needed to change and

00:26:30revamp my my technique and everything back in 2014 which is 10 years ago and um my coach was

00:26:37very clear that it's going to take a lot of time and it's like erasing and overriding your

00:26:44your old habits and um yeah even now um as much as i would want to say my jump looks good it's

00:26:50not perfect and um yeah um it's um it's a long work um we'll see um what's next for me um

00:27:00um for now uh really try to get healthy uh that's one and um yeah we'll see how the season goes and

00:27:11i would want to defend some of my points and um hopefully stay within the world number two

00:27:16ranking um before the end of the year and something i still want to do i think it is

00:27:20doable definitely definitely tough um yeah but the points um that i miss in olympics

00:27:28not going to be that big i would say because i mean it's not going to be like small but

00:27:33the difference from silver to fourth place was five centimeters and i think that's around

00:27:3925 points something like that so i need to find 25 points somewhere somewhere along the season

00:27:50all right so on a lighter note this is from mok from the asian news network we hope to see you

00:27:54back home and give you the warmest welcome are you coming home anytime soon to the philippines

00:27:59and as a follow-up questions from godfathers um what is the update of the planned international

00:28:05pole vault tournament in the country um right now i'm hoping to get on a call uh in a few

00:28:14maybe in a few hours or maybe the next day to actually get an update um as much as i would

00:28:21want to get involved organizing a meet is still like the second priority until two days ago so now

00:28:28um yeah i would want to be able to bring an international competition it's already registered

00:28:33sanctioned um sanctioned by world athletics um the idea is it's going to happen in september 20.

00:28:40it's going to be in ayala triangle gardens um ayala is taking care of it um to be honest i

00:28:47need to yeah i need to understand where where they are with the phases we have a european

00:28:51consultant that does this here in europe to make sure that everything is up to standard in the

00:28:57world class and the best of ability and um the surface that we're using is the same as what

00:29:02surface here in in um in paris in tokyo uh in paris olympics so yeah with the i mean with the

00:29:10competition um definitely that's uh it's one of the things that's um i'm putting my my attention

00:29:17now and um hopefully yeah hopefully you guys will have a world class competition in philippines

00:29:25all right this is john from us to the varsity and what are your plans

00:29:29being competing and do you intend to complete your studies at usd before l8 2028

00:29:37um we'll see uh i really am taking it one day at a time um seeing what um

00:29:46what exactly people's my fire um the reason why i can't give you guys the answer you guys i think

00:29:52wants to to have it's just that i don't want to lie i want to go and say oh yeah we're gunning

00:29:59right away this and that and if i don't truly feel that if i don't truly comprehend the sacrifices

00:30:06that i need to do i don't want to be in la and just be in la if i'm going to do that i'm going

00:30:12to go all out i'm going to freaking win the thing and i'm sorry for that language but

00:30:18that's something i want to do if i were to do that i need to be able to look my my parents

00:30:26in the eye that i'm probably not going to see them again for the next four years at least

00:30:31maybe a month a year at best it's understand that it's going to be another four painstaking years

00:30:37that i need to to focus everything and live this life and yeah it takes a little bit of thinking

00:30:50to understand that and i think i need to give myself time and um yeah so the decision is pretty

00:30:58big and yeah but for now i know what i want to do at least for the next couple of weeks i know

00:31:04over the next couple i would even say months it's not that i'm look you know in tokyo it's a

00:31:11question it's like oh can i actually go toe-to-toe with these guys it's not at all a question anymore

00:31:19and uh i've been there in the past few years i've been there it's not like with all the things and

00:31:25all the circumstances that i've dealt with this year i'm there and it's not a question if i can't

00:31:32compete i i know i can but yeah to be able to say that i know i can what comes with that

00:31:42it's like that's tough that's that's a long long process and uh yeah by willing to do all

00:31:51the sacrifices again and be able to live with my life that's that's uh that's um yeah that's um

00:32:00that's some long decision long thinking i need to do and um i hope you guys understand that's why

00:32:07it's not that i'm saying that la has a picture

00:32:12that's the competitive side of me if la is tomorrow i'll probably be there

00:32:16you know but we'll see it's um it's it's not it's not an easy decision to make and uh i think i

00:32:25i need that time um to process it and hopefully be able to fully commit and say with you know

00:32:31with all my oh my god and all my being and say yeah i'm gonna be there and you know represent

00:32:37the philippines at the best of my ability if not then not at all that's not that's not that's not

00:32:43how i do things i don't we don't go out there and say oh we're just going to be there i'm pretty

00:32:50sure if i just want to qualify then maybe that's yeah it's easy but that's not what that's not what

00:32:56we do all right yeah i think that the one thing you know just some perspective the one is there's

00:33:04only one person in the world who's beaten mondo twice in life and ej is that person he beat him

00:33:11twice in the last 18 months now you know i said that the guy's quite impressive and he's obviously

00:33:17set another world record but ej has beaten that's the beauty ej has beaten every single person on

00:33:24the circuit he's beaten sam he's certainly beaten corrales and he beaten mondo and it's finding the

00:33:29right day at the right time and and he knows that now and that's that's amazing because when i've

00:33:35gone to the olympics with other athletes they get to the stadium and they're intimidated because

00:33:42they've never met any of those people and that's why you know one of the discussions i had even

00:33:47with terry campastrano the other night was you have to send our top athletes to europe

00:33:52because europe is the center of track and field we're never going to win

00:33:56competing in the vietnam open and the taipei open and the hong kong open you know the best

00:34:02athletes in the world are in the diamond league in europe that's where ej competes now he knows

00:34:07he can beat all of them we need to send people that are prepared that they know and our athletes

00:34:12can be the best in the world but they got to go and compete against the best the last thing is is

00:34:17i i would really ask all of us to give him a little bit of space on the 2028 it's incredibly

00:34:23premature that 48 hours after his competition he's supposed to commit to something 40 years away

00:34:29let him think i mean for for me honestly i've never asked him about 2028 you know

00:34:34why because me asking him the night he lost and came in fourth in the olympics what is he gonna

00:34:41do for 2028 is the same thing as going to a funeral and you ask the the man who just buried

00:34:47his wife you say hey are you gonna get remarried you know when he's just at the funeral of his wife

00:34:52i mean it's there's a certain amount of eq and social intelligence he all he wants is some space

00:35:00i think we should give him some space he's going to keep competing and let him just process all

00:35:05this this is the normal thing and i you know i don't i we really don't want to see you know

00:35:11outlandish headlines and things like that because he's just asking for some time to process and i

00:35:17think that's very fair and very appropriate it doesn't mean he's not going to go it doesn't

00:35:21mean anything it's just he just wants to go day by day right now and i think that's an incredibly

00:35:26fair request from ej so thank you yes okay so next question is you are friends with mondo and

00:35:33other vaulters what did they say to you after and my personal question is i don't know if you know

00:35:39the french paul vaulter that got viral in the philippines the the one who has his thing

00:35:52um yeah i mean the first guy that came to me was emmanuel um i've known him since 2019 um

00:36:05we've trained together um it's uh three good um good dynamics that we have um we're very i mean

00:36:15you see and how we do things i mean we gave a good battle and vid gosh have battled him

00:36:21throughout the season um yeah i have respect to the guy i'm happy for him but at the same time it

00:36:28sucks um yeah he yeah i congratulate i wanted to be the first one to congratulate him as well um

00:36:38it's um i think there's a brutal side of sport coming in for with the same height

00:36:44the beauty of it and seeing someone also get their first medal um it's um

00:36:51it's a it's a weird feeling inside man and like it's um

00:36:58yeah and i'm happy for sam um for everything that he's been through um getting his best

00:37:04olympic finish just yet and um mondo doing mondo things what can i say i yeah i just wish him that

00:37:11he's happy and having fun which i think he does and uh yeah with all of them um i think

00:37:19everybody has yeah i said kind things and kind words but you know they're um how do you say uh

00:37:29yeah they're still they're still at competitors in each and one of us so

00:37:35not everybody probably you know how do you say this everybody is not on the podiums disappointed

00:37:42for sure all right so the next one is from free manuspaper what's your reaction to president

00:37:49longbow marco's statement that he vows to further boost philippine sports and as an

00:37:54athlete what do you think needs to be done if so

00:38:00oh i don't think we have enough time to say everything that i think what needs to be done

00:38:05um i'm just very happy to hear that um the president of the country appreciates the

00:38:11sport you know i hope that um sports can be utilized in its full capacity and uh

00:38:17be able to inspire um a country um i think we're at the golden age um

00:38:24so it didn't has broken that barrier and now and we didn't even take that long to to get another

00:38:32to do i mean bravo to caloi and uh bravo to everybody who's done pretty well um like i said

00:38:39back in 2020 before even when once that virus broke in um i would just come it's the same

00:38:46that's the first four minute mile that after that it's going to come it's just going to flow

00:38:51because the belief that's instilled with that when um it goes over sport and what can i say

00:39:00it's not there's not going to be the it's not going to be the last olympics for winning gold

00:39:06for sure and i think it's just going to get better from here on out all right so this is

00:39:12from your spike speech okay congratulations ej uh which is better than your um will you receive

00:39:20enough support to address your health issue mondo the plant is set new okay sorry will you receive

00:39:27receive enough support to address your health issue mondo the plant is set new record that's

00:39:34okay let's just answer the first question will you receive enough support did the government

00:39:39reach out to you um for your did anyone from the government uh help you with your

00:39:47health condition i don't with my health problems i don't exactly disclose it to

00:39:54to everyone you know um i deal with it with my team and i'm i'm very blessed to have a team that

00:39:59you know um capable of finding solutions for me and uh there is definitely no turn and turn

00:40:08um we we did what we could you know yeah i'm proud of what we have achieved i really am i really am

00:40:19the questions are repetitive so let me just check um so it's just 20 28

00:40:29um i think aj man um answered most of your questions and yeah here ma'am

00:40:50i can answer that if you want sir jim um mr lafferty has been a good friend of mine

00:40:55we started working closely i mean we started working 2015 um when um when i got a random

00:41:03call that the american guy wants to make three polls for my stint in um in singapore the singapore

00:41:10sea games i didn't know who he was and that's how that's how we started i basically pick up

00:41:17the polls in his house and uh that's it um it was a very um fast quick and to be honest a little bit

00:41:25strange interaction because i didn't know him um i didn't know what um what he does and i didn't

00:41:32really understand all i knew was okay i wanted a poll i needed a poll i needed i needed equipment

00:41:37to better train and better perform and suddenly there's a patron out of the blue that steps up

00:41:45and say okay i'm willing to support this guy that he doesn't even know um then i had uh i'm supposed

00:41:53to be a career ending injury an acl tear back in 2017 um that's where i think um we got really

00:42:00close um he helped me in a lot of decisions that i make and he taught me to ask questions about

00:42:07how the procedure is going to be done and um helped me look for the best doctors out there

00:42:13to reconstruct my acl and um really gave me a good perspective of what i would say um

00:42:20what what the sport actually could bring and um what it means in uh having in day in day out

00:42:28training um in makati i remember that in a long commute and training with him seeing all this

00:42:35progress and all the stories um that he has shared at to say the relationship is it's just a guy who

00:42:44gave me a poll would be a very unjust explanation i think he is he is a mentor he is coach he is a

00:42:56consultant he might as well be a manager but if what best describes him probably a really good

00:43:08friend that i can call anytime and give me and tell me the things that

00:43:15that i know is facts if i did something stupid i'll be called out and uh it'll be stupid if i

00:43:22do something wrong it's wrong and uh yeah i i would say it's more than not just a mentor it's just more

00:43:29of a friend all right

00:43:47if you guys want to know the calendar competitions for this year i still have a few

00:43:50um i'm i'm competing in a few diamond leagues that's the idea of it but i said um you know

00:43:58we kind of postponed what exactly is the problem with my back therefore first i need

00:44:05to address that and check okay i'm competing if this preparation in this competition

00:44:13am i doing more damage into it or not and the reason we're looking about it is for the long-term

00:44:18approach um it's uh yeah we'll take it one day at a time and um we'll see uh

00:44:26if if i feel like how i felt this past week i think there's no reason for not for me there's

00:44:34no reason for me to stop and there's no reason for me to not finish the season and

00:44:38and continue fighting for that points so yeah all right so what of from cheverlyn um hi ej on a

00:44:51lighter note what was the silver lining that you would bring with you from this

00:44:55olympics and what would be your message to people who you've inspired in this journey

00:45:02overlining silver lining that you would bring there's a lot there's still a lot of silver

00:45:08lining into this um with everything that's happened um i still believe i solidify myself

00:45:14as one of the best um folders in the current time you know yeah i guess that's a silver

00:45:21lining considering everything that's been happening i'm i'm able to compete with the

00:45:24best of the best um i need to give my team and everybody's involved um pat on their back

00:45:34to be able to stitch me back up to where where i'm at um yeah um what

00:45:39what message to everybody i've inspired um i think first i want to say thank you i really need

00:45:47to um appreciate all the love that i'm receiving even though at times i don't feel um i deserve it

00:45:54it's um it's been it's been um you know yeah very

00:46:01i don't even know what the word to use but the outpour of positivity that came out of what

00:46:13a disappointment that i felt is this is immeasurable and it's definitely

00:46:19big difference i didn't think that that that would happen and um i didn't even expect i just

00:46:24played my heart out and put everything out there and uh as i said i tried to be as candid as i

00:46:29could be you know i'm very blessed to have the opportunity to represent such a nation

00:46:38in such a country that raised me um a country that you know um gave me all the values and

00:46:48gave me all the values and traits that definitely makes a good volvo a good athlete um

00:46:53enduring very patient to know the things and uh people who make things happen i think that's what

00:47:01our culture is and i think that's what a lot of filipinos can bring um we're very resilient

00:47:08and uh i'm very proud that i'm able to represent all of you guys um i just wish that there was a

00:47:15way to materialize all of that and i wanted that to be a medal in uh in olympics all right um

00:47:25there's no more questions so here i think we can wrap up e.g bus james

00:47:35i have a quick question if there are other questions they can go ahead and ask me we

00:47:40have time if anybody wants to just go on on the mic and ask go ahead we're here to

00:47:46answer everything that you have and you know give you the facts

00:47:51mr peter you're raising your hand sir aj uh here's my question you said before that the field

00:48:01uh that you're uh the poll voters who were who are before you who are your friends at the same

00:48:10time have improved and are are already are rising up in points also what are your thoughts on this

00:48:21how have you seen how what have you observed from the

00:48:24your other competitors your other the other lower rank

00:48:28uh poll voters behind you um how have they improved so far like caralis

00:48:36um i think we're forgetting that caralis was the former world junior record holder

00:48:41um he was no he was never a nobody um

00:48:48he he jumped 580 already going way back 2018 and um

00:48:57um he hasn't played six so he's just how do you say this um he's able to get back to where he

00:49:07should be i believe and um yeah i mean there's not i don't i don't think i even the right position

00:49:15to even say anything about the other guys because i don't even know everything that they've been

00:49:20as well um you know i think what i would also say is that it's very fluid i mean it you know

00:49:30there's people going up there's people going down this is really you know this is the nature of

00:49:34sport and if you look the last two world championships it was the same three people

00:49:38ej chris nelson and mondo and and in these olympics i know nelson's had some problems

00:49:45he didn't get to the final you know then you've got caralis who who also meddled in the indoor

00:49:52worlds now he gets some of that this is the nature of the sport ej is up and then he has some tough

00:49:58times and he goes down and other people moving there's constant movement of you know new people

00:50:05if you look at when he started and got into the top 10 go look at who was in the top 10 and where

00:50:09they are now half of them aren't there anymore they went people went down they had injuries or

00:50:16you know the the end of their career whatever the factors are so i it's it's not like it's

00:50:22just the people are rising up and ej has more there's also people are moving down and moving

00:50:27out of the lists and things are changing and all of that i mean it the the terrible case of the

00:50:32canadian uh vault i forget his name ej that you know that passed away not long ago i mean he was

00:50:39the world champion and now he's passed away in his 20s i mean things you know that this is the

00:50:47sport mimics life that people are moving all the time and changing and going up and going down and

00:50:53staying going sideways and then coming back and then this is the nature of sport when ej tore his

00:50:58acl he was told no one has ever come back from this injury this was in 2017 in a warm-up right

00:51:06before the c games and when we sat down and he was demoralized and we say we get the right doctor

00:51:12and all that i remember telling him you can improve your strength but use this time productively to

00:51:18train and get stronger than you've ever been i don't think any no one he was even cut from his

00:51:24allowances that nobody even believed he would come back i don't think people even remember

00:51:29what happened in 2017 2018 he was cut from his allowances because nobody thought he would ever

00:51:36come back and he came back and became number two in the world it's an amazing story of again of his

00:51:42discipline and dedication this is why you know the backbone of why i think you know he deserves our

00:51:48ultimate respect is what he is you don't judge people by easy stuff you judge him by the hard

00:51:53stuff he's gone through so much accusations of doping you know all of the fights he had you know

00:51:59with the federation two years ago i mean think of the things this guy has fought through somebody

00:52:05posted a former olympian davian clark who won a bronze medal in the 96 olympics posted on my

00:52:12facebook last night he said with everything this guy has been through over the last couple years

00:52:17his fourth place is an absolute miracle that's from a fellow olympian and olympic medalist he

00:52:24wrote that last night on one of my facebook posts he said this just unbelievable performance

00:52:31from the knee surgeries to everything ej has been through the ringer

00:52:35and he's proven that he's the better person and for me you know i'm tearing up a bit here but

00:52:42this is why the respect level is so high this is an exceptional human being

00:52:47forget the athleticism he's an exceptional human being

00:52:50foreign

00:52:53all right um mr. daffodil rest of sports corner

00:52:59good morning good afternoon uh ej from the philippines uh ej uh i have one question uh

00:53:06for you uh

00:53:13which is amounting five hundred thousand pesos

00:53:17so and of course uh expected some uh private sponsors to give out some private uh

00:53:24some incentives uh for this uh uh participation in the philippines are there any plans to save

00:53:32it to invest it and to help also in the grassroots program of our poll board because you have efforts

00:53:41um

00:53:52um if i understand the question is uh it's about the incentives and how the athletes would use

00:54:00the incentives yes well with regards uh i mean i don't really know i don't i can't speak on

00:54:07behalf of everybody here um i think each and everyone is to their own and you know it's their

00:54:13own money it's in their own um um how do you say rewards and incentives as we have said can't really

00:54:20say um yeah i mean i think the grassroots program for me personally um yeah i want to be involved

00:54:30and um i really yeah as i said we've raised enough money to donate the whole set of poll

00:54:38voting facility um what i mean by that is a poll vote pit crossbar a couple of polls

00:54:44to get a small hopefully a small group of athletes to take a poll voting and

00:54:50get that system going um should it be institutionalized the athletes be the one

00:54:59i don't think so i don't think everybody needs to i think that that's um how do you say that's a

00:55:06really a very topic that i'm not very well versed in how to institutionalize all of these things

00:55:16yeah but i for me the reason why i'm doing it's because i want to give the same opportunity that

00:55:20i was able to get and i want to share that to everybody to the kids and hopefully they'll enjoy

00:55:28the sport that i enjoy and hopefully they'll experience this sport has brought me to the

00:55:32place that i've never thought i would be and um yeah it has given me um a platform definitely

00:55:38to to make um positive change you know um yeah i'm very i'm very blessed i'm very happy and very

00:55:48thankful to everything that's you know that this sport has taught the good and the bad and um

00:55:56i would hope that uh other people would be able to take that and by choice because i'm very

00:56:04lucky that i was born in a in a in manila that uh we had a poll vote pit but imagine if i was

00:56:10born in in some island that didn't have the facility then i wouldn't have taken poll voting

00:56:16i probably wouldn't have been able to do what i've done and you know experience all of these

00:56:23just because there was no possibility of it and that's something i would want to change

00:56:30all right i think we have one one last question from miss rita salonga

00:56:37miss rita are you there yes hi i'm rita from dzrh tv yeah we spoke i think last year during

00:56:46so first uh apology accepted for

00:56:51during the qualifiers yeah but even though you were serious at that time you were still a little

00:56:57bit playful especially during your post with that did you how did it affect your psyche

00:57:06moving forward and moving going to the finals did you have did you make any adjustments your

00:57:12preparations going to the finals after what happened during the qualifiers it made it made

00:57:19the final a little bit easier for me because um as i said i had limited jump sessions so i didn't

00:57:25really know which polls i needed to even change already my competition set in between the qualities

00:57:33and the finals because i didn't realize that i could get on big polls and it was uh yeah it was

00:57:40it was um it's a good thing i would say um polls were moving way too too easy this first few few

00:57:48jumps and um i didn't expect that to happen um during the final we knew which polls to use and

00:57:55which height to attack but i said um yeah i mean i think what happened in the qualities um

00:58:04had a reason and um yeah i mean one jump one jump

00:58:12yeah okay one more all right one more just one more question from mr ivan stewart sir

00:58:22hi good afternoon uh ed so let's go back to the finals last tuesday uh

00:58:27uh you you barely lost to caralis what would have been the strategy to overtake him for the bronze

00:58:36well i wanted to make the first jump at 95 then that would have been a silver middle finish

00:58:42yes i'm ahead of um sam if i if i'm right so that was the goal that's why i stick in the 95

00:58:49and it was not a height that i think i couldn't make um i made 90 quite quite high i didn't even

00:58:56need to replicate that jump i just needed to make 95 and i i truly believe i'm capable of it

00:59:01i was deliberately thinking maybe i should have moved to six meters but then again an olympic

00:59:06medal is an olympic medal um so i stick to 95 and approach it the way i think um

00:59:13the way any competitor would and try to seize the moment um yeah same thing at the the qualifiers i

00:59:22think i tried to seize the moment from 560 and i knew jumping 60 wouldn't even matter anymore the

00:59:27third attempt it wouldn't put me in the final but 70 could so it was uh yeah it was it was those um

00:59:37pressure time decisions all right i think that's about it um we have uh already one hour so ej any

00:59:46last words sorry i don't know if this was answered now but do you have plans to return to manila

00:59:56with um i don't know yet you know um i i believe um the olympic committee sports

01:00:02commission and my federation um and everyone in the sports authorities i believe they are

01:00:09organizing something i i can't speak on their behalf i i don't really know yet um if i have

01:00:16of course um my my option i want to first sort my help get everything sorted compete

01:00:24and get everything the season and you know um see how how everything goes but

01:00:31i i can't answer yet i don't really have an answer for you guys uh i i don't know yet i don't know yet

01:00:38you

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