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01/28/2012
It is likely steeplechaser Rene Herrera will be part of a very lean Philippine team heading for the London Olympics, unless another athlete shines in the remaining qualifying tournaments.
National coach Joseph Sy told the Scoop session yesterday that Herrera is the personal choice of Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa) president Go Teng Kok to fill one of the two mandatory slots in athletics for the quadrennial Games.
“Unless somebody else qualifies until the last qualifying competitions in July, Rene’s a cinch to make it,” said Sy.
It’s not clear though whether the London 2012 Organizing Committee would allow NOCs (national Olympic committees) to also field in “non-qualified” athletes in combined events, 10,000-meter run and 3000m steeplechase, which are considered “exceptions” according to a London Olympics Web site.
If and when Herrera actually makes it to the team, he will be joining long jumper Maristella Torres in carrying the country’s colors in the centerpiece event.
Torres became a logical choice by virtue of her gold medal feat in late last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Palembang, Indonesia.
The 29-year old San Jose, Negros Occidental native turned in a 6.71-meter leap that broke both the Philippine and SEA Games record (which she both previously held).
Her 6.71 meter jump was a close to the 6.75 meters, which is the Olympics’ “A” standard, but truly better than the Olympics’ “B” standard which is 6.65 meters.
Herrera won a gold medal in Palembang. He has a personal best eight minutes and 49.08 seconds in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
The only other Filipino athlete assured of a place in the London Games is boxer flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga, although swimming, which like athletics is a ‘mandatory Olympic event’, is also entitled to two berths — one male and one female.
Fencing and cycling, two of six remaining sports hopeful of sending athletes in London, are currently preparing for the qualifying events.
Fencing president Victor Africa and his executive directress Maria Leonor Estampador said Emerson Segui and Wally Mendoza are presently training to vie for six slots allotted to Asia in the Olympic qualifying tournament scheduled April in Japan.
Another fencing aspirant, Michelle Marcelino, Estampador added, is also preparing for a tournament in Arizona, USA.