LONE WOLF: Obiena to train alone for Paris Olympics

Unlike the rest of the national delegation, Ernest John Obiena will be training all by his lonesome in preparation for the Paris Olympics starting 26 July.

Philippine Track and Field Athletics Federation secretary general Jasper Tanhueco said the 28-year-old Obiena will train in Paris, but he will not join other Filipino athletes in their training camp in the French city of Metz.

Obiena, instead, will be locked up in a training facility near the French capital together with Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov and other training partners in Huang Bokai of China and Hussain Al-Hizam of Saudi Arabia.

Both Huang and Al-Hizam are also seeing action in the Summer Games.

“EJ is already in Paris so he will have a separate training camp near Paris. He will have a different training camp that is secluded and has more facilities in that camp,” Tanhueco, who is set to fly in Paris to check on Obiena on 15 July. Patafa president Terry Capistrano, meanwhile, will be leaving on the 23rd.

“It’s closer to the venue than the training camp in Metz.”

There’s a need for Obiena to stay focused on his preparation for the men’s pole vault event on 3 August at the Stade de France at 10 a.m. (4 p.m. in Manila).

Should he emerge victorious, he will compete in the final on 5 August.

He is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Paris leg of the Diamond League recently in which he bowed to Swedish powerhouse Armand Duplantis, American star Sam Kendricks and hometown bet Thibaut Collet.

Aside from Obiena, other Patafa athletes who will compete in the Summer Games are hurdlers John Cabang and Lauren Hoffman.

The 23-year-old Hoffman, a Filipino-American, is entered in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, while Cabang-Tolentino in the men’s 110-meter.

Cabang-Tolentino will run at 11 a.m. (5 p.m. Manila time), followed by Hoffman at 12:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. Manila time) on 4 August at the same national stadium.

Both Cabang and Hoffman will be entering the Metz camp on either 23 or 24 July in which they will join Carlos Yulo of gymnastics, and Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas of boxing.

On the other hand, other boxers like Carlo Paalam, Eumir Marcial and Hergie Bacyadan are in Saarbrücken, Germany together with weightlifters in Elreen Ando, John Ceniza and Vanessa Sarno, who are polishing their skills at Sportscampus Saar.

The swimmers in Jarod Hatch and Kayla Sanchez, meanwhile, returned to the United States and Canada to apply finishing touches on their respective Olympic preparation.

The pole vault tournament will begin on 3 August at the Stade de France, where Obiena will be facing tough challenges in his bid to win the country’s second Olympic gold medal.

Tanhueco said the federation is not putting pressure on its athletes to land on the medal podium of the biggest and most prestigious athletic meet in the world.

“Even if it’s closed-door, I already coordinated but I need to schedule it,” Tanhueco said.

“Let’s just wait for what will happen and we will be 100 percent supporting him. All I can say is we need to believe in our athletes.”

“We’re positive and confident that they’re going to perform at the highest level.”