HANGZHOU - EJ Obiena lived up to his billing, delivering the country's first gold medal by ruling the men's pole vault of the 19th Asian Games in record-breaking fashion on a cool Saturday night at the Olympic Sports Centre Stadium.
The 27-year-old Filipino cleared 5.90 meters in his first attempt to establish a new Asiad mark as he ended the Philippines' long gold-medal drought.
The medal was the first for Philippine athletics in 29 years or since Elma Muros Posadas won the bronze medal in women's long jump in the 1994 Hiroshima Games.
But it was the first gold by a Filipino tracksters in the Asiad since the late great Lydia De Vega won the century dash in 1986 in Seoul, South Korea.
It was the latest feat in Obiena's illustrious career that saw him win a silver in the World Championship last July and retain the gold in the Asian Athletics Championship a month after.
To cap it off, the University of Santo Tomas alum broke the previous meet record of 5.70 meters owned by Seito Yamamoto of Japan.
"I think this was like an icing on the cake to win this (in record fashion)," declared Obiena, a huge Philippine flag draped over his body following his record-breaking performance. "Our country needed it. I wanted it. It's my job to bring it."
The world no. 2 pole vaulter tried to break the 6.02 barrier, but thrice failed in his attempt.
The Tondo-born pole vaulter already smashed Yamamoto's record when he cleared 5.75 meters in his second attempt earlier.
He then reset the Asiad record a few minutes later upon leaping to 5.90 meters, sparking a wild celebration among the motley Filipino supporters in the crowd that include Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino and athletics chief Terry Capistrano.
"We pushed through. I think we were able to do what we need to do, and bring back the goal for the country, which is the most important thing," said Obiena.
Bokai Huang of China and Al Hizam Hussain Asim of Saudi Arabia - both Obiena's stablemate with Ukraine coach Vitaly Petrov - bagged the silver and bronze, respectively.
But they never came close to Obiena's effort.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
