Asian Games gold medalist EJ Obiena was grateful not having to worry about seeking necessary help and funding that he would need ahead of his 2024 Paris Olympics redemption bid. 

The world No. 2 Filipino pole vaulter is coming off a successful, if not perfect season this year capped by a record-setting victory at the Asiad last week, where he cleared the 5.90 meters right on his first try to give the Philippines its first gold medal in the tournament. 

With the historic win, Obiena formally announced himself Asia’s pole vault king. 

The victory also meant the 27-year-old drew an influx of support from general sponsors to help him in his preparations for the Olympiad. 

Obiena received additional incentives from his alma mater Chiang Kai Shek College of P3 million after throwing him a warm homecoming welcome and another P5 million from Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while Oishi founder Carlos Chan and Anson Tan showed support with P1 million each. 

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will also give Obiena a promised doubled incentive of P2 million for his feat, while the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has previously pledged P1 million for each gold medal winner in the Asiad. 

“There’s a reason I’m world No. 2 right now. I can’t say I am too confident, so bring it on. But in a way, I’m confident with the way I am training, very happy with my team. I trust them. That’s all I need to move forward. Right now, I have the resources to do what needs to be done. I feel good,” Obiena said during his homecoming celebration at the CKSC on Friday, Oct. 6. 

“Form the general sponsors that we have here. I’m probably gonna get a backup pole in case something happens to the pole that I have in Europe. Cause I only have one set there.

“Every time I travel there’s always a risk or breakage or accidents like in 2016 where I missed two months of my Olympic qualification period where I broke my pole flying back to Manila from Singapore. 

“In my head, I’m still planning for Paris to be fool proof. I plan on getting bigger plans. We already ordered a few poles before the season because we knew what are the things that we are gonna work on,” he furthered. 

With funding almost entirely out of Obiena’s worries, keeping himself focused and prepared remain as his only priorities ahead of his second Olympic stint. 

Obiena was the first Filipino to clinch a spot back to the Olympics after clearing the required standard of 5.82 meters in the Stockholm Diamond League-Bauhaus Galan in Sweden, where he also claimed a silver medal.  

During the Tokyo Games in 2021, Obiena completely missed out on the podium and had a sorry finish of 11th place for his debut. 

With a chance to redeem himself in the French capital, the “6-meter club” elite member is targeting four training camps mostly in Europe and a few in the USA. 

Aside from the camps, Obiena has also decided to join in at least five competitions next year including two indoor tournaments and three outdoors before the Olympics. 

“I’m in a very good space, very good time and environment to produce something historic. Last year, I said I wanna win the Asian Games, the Asian Championships, I wanna win the Southeast Asian Games, and at least a bronze medal in the Worlds Athletics Championships,” Obiena said. 

“Going into this year, we achieved that and actually got better. We got a silver medal finish in the Worlds and then we jumped 6 meters which I also said I was gonna do. So, the self-belief that I have right now is very high. I think I just need to keep safe and be healthy and continue to trust my coach and the regimen that we have,” he added. 

Obiena is set to leave the Philippines on the 15th, but gave no further details about his whereabouts in the next few months.