Ina Feleo regrets giving up dreams of becoming an Olympian
Perhaps only few people know that figure skating was Ina Feleo's first passion before acting.
Ice skating rinks had been her second home during her childhood, training countless hours to pursue her dream of becoming an Olympic figure skater one day.
"Nag-start ako nine years old, 'yung pinsan ko galing Cebu may competition sila dito sa Manila so sumama 'ko ng rehearsal and then sabi nila, 'gusto mo i-try?'
"So ako naman, sige, and then I stepped on the ice, two hours walang tigil, 'di ako lumalabas ng yelo and the rest was history. Parang sobrang naadik talaga ako and got so into it. Ang dream ko talaga noon maging Olympic champion," the Raising Mamay star told GMANetwork.com in a recent virtual chat.
Her parents spared no expense in making sure that she got the necessary training abroad to reach that level. In fact, one of her trainers was Japanese figure skating champion and technical specialist, Shin Amano.
At that time, Ina felt it was elusive to get into the Olympics because of several factors. It was only in 1992 when the first ice skating rink in the Philippines was opened to the public.
[Here's another piece of trivia: It was in 2008 the Philippines had its first Olympic-size ice skating rink at the SM Mall of Asia. The first ever Filipino figure skater (and the first Southeast Asian) to represent the Philippines at the Olympics was Michael Martinez at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games in Russia. He was 17 then.]
Ina shared, "Siyempre marami ring pumigil, maraming aspects kung bakit mahirap na mahirap pa siyang ma-achieve lalo na before wala tayong Olympic size rinks, napakamahal na sport no'ng figure skating. Siyempre, 'yung coaches natin hindi pa trained. Basta maraming gano'n.
"Mga twice I went to the States to train. Talagang lahat ng pera nila Daddy parang binuhos para magkapag-train ako but then, at some point, this was 'yung magka-college na 'ko.
"Parang na-feel ko rin na 'di ko ma-a-achieve 'yung maging Olympic champion realistically kasi I was 16. 'Pag 16 ka na dapat, at that point, competing ka na in Olympic level na which I wasn't yet, ganyan."
And admittedly, it ate her heart out.
"Kumbaga, ginive up ko s'ya, 'yun naman 'yung pinagsisihan ko kung bakit ko ginive up completely. Tumigil talaga 'ko, hindi talaga 'ko nag-skate, ngayon lang talaga 'ko bumalik so that's how it ended."
Ina is still grateful for the experience and the life lessons that she learned through the sport.
"Pero ang dami kong natutunan, kumbaga, feeling ko ang laking parte kung sino ako ngayon dahil naging athlete ako before. 'Yung disiplina sa lahat, mental discipline, ganyan ang dami kong natutunan sa skating."
Two decades later, Ina is back on the ice to revive her passion for figure skating, not to pursue her childhood dream to become an Olympian anymore but to make it as a hobby. "Ngayon, I'm doing it for fun," she said.
The discipline that Ina got from being an athlete is probably the reason why she has maintained her fitness to this day. Her jaw-dropping figure is a result of her dedication to living a healthy lifestyle through proper diet and workout.
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