KRISTEL SATUMBAGA

National athletes continued to make heads turn in the international scenes in another busy year in sports, and this year was no exception as they racked up historic feats worth telling and retelling.

Indeed, it was another happy, energetic and glorious sporting year for Philippine sports one that begs for an encore as Paris Olympics beckons.

Among a bevy of courageous athletes who someday could be enshrined in the pantheon of greats, it was pole vaulter EJ Obiena who stood out and shone brightest of them all.

Shining moments abound, but again, it was Obiena who made us proudest as a Filipino.

In 16 tournaments before his record-shattering performance in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Obiena made it to the podium 15 times, one of them enabled him to reach the qualifying standard to become the first Filipino athlete to secure a slot to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Tondo native will be in the biggest stage once more, this time in the lovely French capital after clearing the qualifying standard of 5.82 meters to pluck a silver medal in the Bauhaus Galan leg of the Wanda Diamond League in Stockholm, Sweden last July.

Even before his Olympic qualification, Obiena has already been displaying his A-Game with six golden victories in various European tournaments as well as in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where he reset the Games mark.

Earning a return trip to the Olympics, however, did not stop Obiena as he went on to reap more triumphs including in the Asian Athletics Championships in Thailand and the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Those feats also made him the second best pole vaulter in world after world No. 1 Armand Duplantis of Sweden as of this writing.

Also highlighting this year’s successful stint for national athletes is Gilas Pilipinas’ golden victory at the Asian Games.

The Philippines produced what could go down as one of its greatest basketball wins in the history of Asian Games with a tense-filled 70-60 victory over Jordan.

Heroes come in different sizes for the PH dribblers to clinch the country’s fifth gold and eighth overall since ruling the first four stagings of the event — the last in 1962, a team then spearheaded by the great Caloy Loyzaga.

The last time a Philippine team won a medal – a bronze – came in the 1998 Bangkok edition when the Centennial Team, also handled by Tim Cone, beat Kazakhstan, 73-68.

Gilas’ victory highlighted the successful participation of Team PH in this edition of the Asian Games, where the Filipinos went home with four gold, two silver and 12 bronze medals.

The other gold medals came from Obiena and jiujitsu fighters Meggie Ochoa and Annie Ramirez.

With a total of 395 athletes competing in 40 sports, the medal haul secured the country 17^th place overall — its best since the 1994 Asian Games in Japan where Filipino athletes secured 14^th place with three golds, two silvers and eight bronze medals.

It almost matched the country’s previous feat in the 2018 edition in Indonesia, but came up three bronze medals short.

Apart from the medals, it also produced one Paris Olympics qualifier in boxer Eumir Marcial, whose silver medal finish earned him a berth in the men’s middleweight class.

Not only that.

The Philippine national women’s football team, popularly known as Filipinas, also made history by nailing its first goal in the World Cup – thanks largely to talismanic Serena Bolden.

That made the cat-quick Bolden as one of the best footballers of her time in the Asian region these days.

The country also showed its ability to host an international spectacle  when it staged the FIBA World Cup where several established stars like Dallas star Luka Doncic of Slovenia, LA Lakers Austin Reaves of Team USA, Toronto’s Dennis Schroder of Germany.

The event that showed the Filipinos’ extraordinary hospitality and dexterity was a great experience not only for basketball fans, but as well as to ordinary fans.

While other Filipino athletes were busy at the Asian Games, top gymnasts Carlos Yulo and Fil-American Aleah Finnegan competed in the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium and eventually clinched slots to the Paris Olympics.

Not to be outdone was the country’s participation at the 32^nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where it sent 905 athletes in 38 sports and went home with 58 gold, 85 silver and 117 bronze medals.

It eclipsed the country’s previous haul of 52 gold, 70 silver and 105 bronze medals held just a year before in Hanoi, Vietnam.