PARIS, France — Rower Joanie Delgaco pushed and pulled her way Friday to a commendable feat of a Top 20 finish in her Olympic debut in women’s single sculls at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
Just as everybody thought that she was a spent force, Delgaco made a dramatic rally from fifth to second in Final D and emerged the second-best Asian performer.
With that, the Iriga City native is bound to attend a three-month training in Germany and now a candidate for the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship.
Also with her strong Olympic showing, the Philippine Rowing Association will get additional support from the Philippine Sports Commission.
PSC chairman Richard Bachmann is recommending to the PSC board that rowing gets additional slots for the national team — five males, five females, plus two coaches.
“Joanie just proved that if we can get additional support from corporate sponsors, we can excel in this sport,” said rowing chief Patrick Gregorio, ecstatic on Delgaco’s final race where she clocked a personal Olympic best of 7:43.83.
In the quarters and in semis C/D, Delgaco registered a time of over eight minutes.
In the finale, she’s fourth through the 500m mark then down to fifth through the 1000m before thundering to second through 1500m and keeping the pace to finish second behind Paraguay’s Alejandra Alonso and ahead of Iranian Fatemeh Mojallaltopraghghale, Turkish Elis Ozbay, Vietnamese Thi Hue Pham, and Peru’s Adriana Sanguineti.
“Grabe yung hinabol,” said Gregorio who later handed Delgaco P50,000 bonus.
“Before the Olympics, there were five qualifiers and the rankings were Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Philippines and Singapore. Now we’re second in Asia and No. 1 in Southeast Asia,” Gregorio said.
And it’s not lost on FISA (world rowing).
Daniela Gomes, the FISA head for sports development, said they’ve been observing Delgaco and sees great potential. She said they’re supporting an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship grant for the Filipina rower.