LONG jumper Marestella Torres-Sunang is making sure her last campaign in the Olympics will be a memorable one. And this, she said, can be achieved if she reaches the finals.
“Sa kundisyon ko ngayon, ang goal ko ay makapasok sa finals,” said Torres-Sunang, who at 35, is the oldest competitor in the women’s long jump of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
To make it to the finals, a competitor needs to clear around 6.5 meters or more, just like in the 2012 London Olympics.
“Hindi ko na tinitingnan ngayon kung anong distance ang nagagawa ko. Nu’ng 2012, ang makagawa ng 6.5 meters pasok na finals,” added Torres-Sunang, a mother to a 2-year-old boy.
This time around, she had added yoga meditations to her list of activities while training for the Olympiad.
Torres-Sunang has been doing this over the last two years, ever since she signed up for main supporter James Laffterty’s adopt-an-Olympian program.
“Malaking tulong ito. Nagkakaedad na kasi ako. Lalo na sa jumps, flexibility ang kailangan. ‘Pag mas flexible, iwas sa injury,” added Torres-Sunang.
To make it to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, she went through several Olympic qualifiers, the last being in the Kazakhstan nationals in Almaty, where she went past the Olympic qualifying standard of 6.72 on her final attempt.
Sunang is currently ranked no. 30 by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
To be in the medal hunt, she needs to jump longer and be in the 6.8-meter range.
To do this, the Joebert Delicano-coached Torres-Sunang is following the advise of Laffterty to follow a strict diet, which will enable her to lose a lot of body fat.
“Her is diet is important,” said Lafferty, who noted that Torres-Sunang will be plunging into action by Aug. 16.
He said Sunang now has 10.1% body fat in her system and it has to go down to nine.
“Nine percent is where we want her to be. It’s perfect,” said Lafferty.
At present, American Brittany Reese is the long-jump favorite after having cleared 7.31 meters in Oregon, followed by Soustene Mouguenara of Germany, who is in contention with her clearance of 7.16.
Then, there’s Brooke Stratton of Australia (7.05 meters).
Less of a worry for Torres-Sunang are nine out of 10 Russian long jumpers, who were among those banned from the Olympiad for doping.
Russia will have only one track and field athlete in Darya Klishina, who is also model. She is training in Florida at the time of the ban imposed by the IAAF on Russian athletes. Klishina, who has cleared 6.84 meters to make the cut, was given an exemption because she is based at the IMG academy in Bradenton, Florida, away from her peers.
Among the nine Russians banned was Svetlana Biryukova, who is in Torres-Sunang’s range at 6.71.
Under the adopt-an-Olympian program, Torres-Sunang became the first athlete to train under Lafferty.
Lafferty, the CEO of the British-America Tobacco in the Philippines, inked a pact with the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association in 2014 to help the country snag its first Olympic medal, through a holistic approach in the training program that Lafferty’s group is following.
“She really wanted this and I saw how hard she worked to get to her third Olympics. She deserves to be there,” said PATAFA president Philip Ella Juico.