For Filipino-American standout, LeVi Jung-Ruivivar, four months of hard work and complete attendance in all legs of the 2024 World Cup series of Artistic Gymnastics have paid off in her bid to clinch an Olympic berth.
But for rower Joanie Delgaco, everything was a surprise when she became the 11th formally qualified Filipino athlete to the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday in South Korea.
Showing how much she has recovered from an injury as an incoming freshman at Stanford University, Jung-Ruivivar tallied 13.633 points, behind French-Algerian star Kayla Nemour, who won the gold medal by almost two points with 15.366.
The 17-year-old Nemour, who already booked a Paris Olympics slot last year, had an execution score of 8.366 and a difficulty of seven points, while Jung-Ruivivar strung up tallies of 7.833 and 5.8.
Jung-Ruivivar got the second slot after accumulating reallocated Olympic ranking points for joining all three legs of the World Cups, which included the Cairo, Cottbus and Baku stops of the series.
For Jung-Ruivivar, everything went according to plan, as she and her coach Ivan Goriatchkine took LeVi’s participation in each of the World Cup leg as a warmup for the next one.
“The first of the competitions (Cairo) was almost like a warmup. I was happy with how I did in the bars, and I definitely wanted to clean up my executions,” said Ruivivar before she went to Doha.
As for the 26-year-old Delgado, she made it to Paris when she settled for fourth place, with a clocking of seven minutes and 49.39 seconds in the women’s single sculls event of the 2024 Asia Oceania Qualification Tournament for Rowing in Chengju.
Delgaco, who is from Bicol, held off her remaining pursuers in the last 200 meters and finished behind Uzbekistan’s Anna Prakaten.
“Kahit sumasakit na ang buong katawan ko, sabi ko sarili ko, hindi na ako puwedeng malampasan,” said Delgaco, in an interview with Radio Pilipinas 2.
Prakaten took the gold medal in seven minutes and 31.28 seconds in the Finals A category.
Japan’s Shijo Yonekawa walked off with the silver in 7:35.93, while Iran’s Fatemeh Mojallal Topraghghale earned the bronze in 7:37.07.
Delgaco was ahead of five other finalists in the first 500 meters before Prakaten and Yonekawa and Topraghghale overtook her.
The top five finishers in the event gained entry to the Olympics.
Meanwhile, the Philippine national team added another medal by taking a bronze in the Women’s Quadruple Sculls.
The foursome of Tammy Sha, Feiza Lenton, Amelyn Pagulayan and Kristine Paraon clocked 7 minutes and 16 seconds for third place.
They were behind Kazakhstan (6:58.87) and Korea1 (6:59.22), who bagged the gold and silver respectively.
This will be the second time for a Philippine women squad to settle for a podium finish in the Continental competitions, according to PRA coach Icon Fornea.
The last time the Philippines had a bronze-medal finish happened in the 1998 when Maricon Fornea and Myla Babilonia did it in the 1998 Asian Rowing Championships.
