Filipino pole vaulter and world No. 3 EJ Obiena has announced plans to donate pole vault pits to help improve the sport in the Philippines.
He aims to provide young athletes with better training facilities to foster their development.
"One of the reasons why I'm doing this is because I wanna raise funds for the pole vault pits. The reason why I wanna do that is because I think that's where we lack," said Obiena.
"We lack facilities, we lack the opportunities for kids to do the sport. As much as we are great, there's probably a few more kids out there, much more talented and gifted that are gonna be much better athletes than all of us," he added.
Obiena made this statement in front of supporters at the ‘High Flying Hangout: Meet and Greet Event,’ which also featured volleyball superstar Alyssa Valdez, two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist in karate Jamie Lim, and Filipinas National Women’s Football Team captain Hali Long.
Obiena's motivation stems from his personal experience when he first started pole vaulting.
"It took me an hour, and you need to find different routes to get into the pole vault pit. That's really something I hope I can influence and change. I can't definitely be the only one who can change this; I will be dead before it's done."
As the fourth-place finisher in the Paris Olympics, Obiena calls for collective support, acknowledging that while he wishes to assist the pole vaulting community, he cannot do it alone. He aims to inspire others to contribute and urges the government for support.
