For a couple of nights during the first week of the
2014 Winter Olympics, Filipinos were hooked on their television sets (or
computers) to watch and cheer for the lone Filipino olympian – Michael
Christian Martinez. During the opening ceremony, he proudly carried the
Philippine flag. The Philippines was
one of 17 countries that fielded only one representative in the games. Martinez is not
the first Filipino figure skater to participate in the Winter Games and the
fifth overall. A namesake, Michael Teruel, an Alpine skier represented the Philippines in the
1992 Olympics in Albertville, France. This
is the fourth time that the country has participated in the Games (1972, 1988,
1992 and 2014). On the first night of the figure skating competition, Filipinos
from across the globe waited to see him skate during the short program, and
prayed that he be qualified to compete for the medals competition and the long
program the following evening. Before he skated, Martinez sent a
sent a message to his fans and followers through his Facebook page. “This is
for my mother, for God, for my family and for the country,” he wrote. Martinez,
who idolizes Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, qualified to join the 2014
Olympic Winter Games last September after placing seventh in the 2013 Nebelhorn
Trophy in Germany. At the Sochi Games, Martinez got a
score of 64.81, and placed 19th out of 29, qualifying him to compete in the
free skate. He garnered 119.44 and finished 19th overall with a total score of
184.25 The 17-year-old figure skater also became the first Southeast Asian
figure skater to ever compete in the Winter Olympics. Prior to the Olympics, he
placed fifth at the 2013 World Junior Championships and has won two senior
international medals. What made the teener’s story compelling was the fact that
he had to go through a lot of challenges in order to make it to Sochi. Media
reports say that his family mortgaged their home just so he can fulfill his
Olympic dream. Then there were the injuries – he was out for two months in 2013
with a fractured ankle. In 2012, he was sidelined for three months after
tearing a medial ligament in his knee in and in 2011, he tore two ligaments in
his ankle, and it took him three months to recover. He also suffered a cut to
his thigh from a skating blade in 2009, and took two months to recover. According
to his official Olympics profile, he was born with asthma. At age two months he
was in hospital with asthmatic bronchitis. “I literally grew up in the hospital
as I was very sick. I couldn’t take up any sport. I tried outdoor sports when I
was younger, but I easily got asthma attacks so I stopped. I had asthma
maintenance medicine when I started skating, since the cold in the rink makes
me sick too. But year after year my health keeps improving, so my mother fully
supported me to continue skating. She said it’s better to spend the money on
skating than in the hospital,” Martinez said. His
story It all began when he was around eight years old, and went to a mall in
Las Pinas. It was there where he saw kids, teens and even adults skating on an
ice rink. He asked his mom if he could try it out and after a couple of hours,
the young boy knew what he wanted to do. That was nine years ago. Today, that
boy who dreamed is now a certified Olympian. A recent tsismosaonline report
also said that Martinez is one
of the top five most buzzed-about Olympic athletes on Facebook. Shaun White,
the American snowboarder whose bid for a third straight gold medal in the
halfpipe fell short, had the early lead among attention-getting athletes, but
figure skating is by far the sport that attracts the most interest. Martinez is the
only figure skater – male or female – in the top five list; the other most
popular athletes so far are Jenny Jones, the British snowboarder; Canadian
skier Alex Bilodeau; and American snowboarder Jamie Anderson. According to AP,
Facebook said Friday that more than 24 million people have commented on the
Olympics during Sochi’s
first week, with a total of 48 million posts, comments and “likes.” The most
activity was in the United States, Canada and Great
Britain. From tsismosaonline
to the Washington Post to NBC to Huffington Post and New York Times, Michael
Christian Martinez became a toast of the media in Sochi, some
of the features discussed his journey from a mall in a tropical country to the
main stage of the Olympics. (see sidebar) Aside from Martinez,
Filipino Olympics fans, viewers and netizens were happy to find out that there
were three other Filipino athletes in Sochi
competing under different countries. JR Celski The most famous among them is JR
Celski, a short-track speed skater representing the United
States. He first made it
into the consciousness of Filipino fans at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics where he
competed alongside his idol Apolo Anton Ohno. Born to a Filipino mom (Sue) and
a Polish dad (John Robert), JR was initially into inline skating. He quickly
realized that there was no Olympic sport for inline skating so he tried skating
on ice. He won two bronze medals in Vancouver, a
major achievement in itself since he almost missed the games because of a
severe injury that happened five months before the opening ceremony. After
crashing during a race, he cut his leg with his own skate blade, narrowly
missing a vein which could have led to paralysis. The 23-year-old JR was
however, hell-bent on joining the Olympic team this time. Four years prior, he
narrowly missed the 2008 Torino Olympics because he was underage by 17
days. His eventual recovery was swift
and sure enough, he was able to make it to the team. The Seattle native
dominated at 2014 Olympic Trials, winning every distance and qualifying a spot
on the team in each one. With four events at Sochi,
Celski failed to make it to the podium this time, placing fourth in the 1500
meters. Gilmore Junio Then, there’s Gilmore Junio, a long track speed skating
athlete representing Canada. In
his official Olympics profile, Junio said that he took up the sport because “I
was too small for ice hockey, but saw an advert on TV for speed skating. The
coach said I had potential.” In Sochi, the 23-year-old Junio gave up his place
in the 1000m to teammate Denny Morrison, who went on to win a silver medal in
the race. “To represent Canada at the
Olympics is a huge honour and privilege but I believe that as Canadians, we’re
not just here to compete; we are here to win. Denny has proven to be a
consistent medal threat in the distance,” Junio said. Junio was recently
featured in MacLean’s Magazine, Canada’s
weekly news and current affairs magazine, where he was praised for giving up
the spot to his team-mate. The backstory is this – Morrison, a specialist in
1000 meters, placed fifth during Canada’s
Olympic trials late last year because his skate clipped his heel. Junio, a sprinter, qualified in both 500 and
1000 meters. Days before the 1000 meters event, the program director for Speed
Skating Canada asked
Junio if he’d consider giving up his second event, so that Morrison could take
his place. The Maclean feature, which was titled “The race Gilmore Junio didn’t
skate” said – The decision whether to
step aside was left entirely to Junio. Imagine the import of that request. He’d
spent four years on the national team gutting out a chance to make the Canadian
Olympic team in Sochi; now he was asked to consider walking away from an
Olympic race, to risk disappointing his parents, who flown to Russia to watch
him race. Junio told his family his decision Monday night, then he picked up
the cell phone the Canadian Olympic team had provided athletes and he texted
this to his friend Denny Morrison: “Are you ready for the 1,000m, yay or nay?” This
was a gesture that the Toronto Sun
said “touched the hearts of Canadians and sports fans around the world.” Morrison
won the silver, narrowly missing the gold by
four one hundredths of a second. Canadians and some athletes
representing the country started a campaign to name Junio as the flag-bearer
during the closing ceremony this Sunday because of this selfless act. According
to The Sun, the ladi-back skater is still shocked that anyone would consider
that decision a big deal. “It was a no-brainer,” said Junio, the son of
Filipino immigrants who came to Canada in the
1970s for a better life. Walter Mirren, a Canadian, posted on Maclean website –
“This young man – Gilmore Junio – has earned the right to carry our Canadian
flag in the closing ceremonies. He has MORE than earned that honour. And in
four years, young Mr. Junio will skate home with his own collection of medals. His
parents in Canada and
his relatives in the Philippines will
be proud – as will be all of Canada and
the Philippines.” Ramon
Romero, a Filipino-Canadian couldn’t agree more. He posted on the canada.com
article on Junio – “Being a Filipino-Canadian myself I was emotionally filled
with a huge sense of pride. Watching Gil Junio cheer for Denny Morrison during
the race, I felt myself too in Gil’s shoes and Denny’s skates winning the
silver. Their teamwork truly exemplifies the Canadian Spirit in these games.” Anne
Line Gjersem Not to be forgotten is figure skater Anne Line Gjersem, who is
representing Norway. According
to an abscbnnews.com article, the 20-year-old Gjersem’s is the first Norwegian and the only figure
skater to qualify in the Olympic event after 50 years. Not since 1964 has a
Norwegian qualified to compete in the sport, which was ruled by Norwegian
figure-skating legend and three-time gold medalist Sonia Henie in the 1928,
1932, and 1936 Winter Games. Anne Line and her twin sister Camilla Marie were
born in Norway to
Petter Gjersem, and Filipina Perlina Bangug, who hails from Ilagan, Isabela. She
placed 24th during the short program on Wednesday, Feb. 19th and garnered a
score of 48.56. Her official Olympic profile said that she started skating at
the age of eight. She and Camilla decided at age nine they wanted to focus
fully on figure skating. They initially trained once a week for a year, then
started training daily with a private tutor. At age 12 she set herself the goal
of competing at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. An story said that this early,
the Gjersem twins already have set their sights on the 2018 Winter Games in South
Korea. “She’s (her
twin) at home in Norway in the
studio watching. I face-timed (on the phone) with her before my programme,”
said Anne Line. “She always says positive things to me and she’s my biggest
supporter.” Gjersem wore a light blue sequined outfit as she skated to “Maria
and the Violin’s Sting” by Ashram. “I’m very happy that Norway has a
spot here. I’m very proud to represent my country and I’m very excited,” she
told tsismosaonline after taking the 24th and final qualifying spot in the
short programme. “I’m quite satisfied with my programme. It could be a little
bit better, the first jump, and I could have had more speed. I could feel it in
my body that I was a bit tense. I enjoyed skating and was trying to do my
best.”
