Of all the events slated in the 2024 Paris Olympics, I look forward to EJ Obiena's quest for Olympic gold.
Don't get me wrong. I will support all of the Olympians fighting for pride and the flag in the Paris games.
I have seen a couple of his campaigns and let me say that pole vaulting needs to be a thing. It's an easy sport to digest and one-upmanship at its finest.
The sport is basically about who can get the highest distance within limited attempts.
The best of the best are represented in Paris. Obiena is number 2 in the world but number 1 and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Armand Duplantis of Sweden has entered as well as number 3 and number 4 Sam Kendricks and Chris Nilsen of the United States. Nilsen is also the silver medalist of the Tokyo Games. World number 6 Thibaut Collet will represent the home crowd.
That said, other favorites are out. Number 7 KC Lightfoot of the US is the only Top 10 not participating. Another American, world number 13 Zach McWorther is also out with number 14 Jacob Wooten finishing the American contingent. Thiago Braz of Brazil will miss the event after a 16-month doping ban.
In some ways, pole vault and weightlifting have similar mechanics. But as seen with the way Hidilyn Diaz defeated her Chinese counterpart, there is more strategy in weightlifting. With pole vaulting, a player can just forego the other heights to double down on the big moves. We have seen Obiena challenge himself by masterfully gunning straight to the best players and I guess he's going to do the same thing with Duplantis, Kendricks, and Nilsen. That said, Obiena has struggled in his last five contests, breaking the 6-meter barrier only once. Meanwhile, Duplantis just had a 6.24 last April and has had a 6.00 in all of his last five events. The saving grace for Obiena is none of the top ten guys have breached the 6.00 barrier either.
In Tokyo, Obiena had a 5.70 but the lowest he had in his last five bouts was 5.82. He either placed first or second to Duplantis in the last five events so he has a fighting chance to win the gold medal.
Again, it all boils down to whether or not Obiena wants to become the second gold medalist in Philippine Olympic history. The dude has overcome a lot of hurdles in his career and I believe a medal win is the culmination of all his sacrifices.