DESPITE his great performance in the qualifying rounds, EJ Obiena fell short in the men's pole vault final held at the Stade de France on August 6, 2024, wounding up only at fourth place. The world’s No. 2 pole vaulter who was gunning for a podium finish to quench the country’s medal drought in the athletics division since 1936, lost to Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, who claimed the last podium spot after clearing the first five heights in a single attempt.
Obiena nicked the pole at 5.80m after three attempts and settled for fourth place. Sweden’s Armand Duplantis and world No.
1 pole vaulter bagged the gold medal win and surpassed his own world record after clearing the 6.25m. USA’s Sam Kendricks and world No.
3 notched silver with 5.95m. In an interview after his game exit, Obiena turned emotional and apologized for falling a tad short for a podium finish.
“I apologize. I promised I was going to go back after Tokyo and do better. I did, but it didn’t change in my book.
I still came up short. I’m sorry. I apologize for it,” Obiena emotionally expressed.
“I missed one attempt and I think that really defined the medalist to the non-medalist. Sports is beautiful but also brutal,” the Filipino vaulter added. Despite his loss, Obiena is still happy for his fellow pole vaulters who finished with medals and said that they deserve it.
“I’m happy for everybody who got the medal. They deserve it. I’m happy for my friends.
But it doesn’t give me a little bit .