Foes on the field, friends outside: EJ Obiena happy for pals, Olympics medalists Duplantis, Kendricks, Karalis

EJ Obiena was left heartbroken following his close-but-not-quite non-medal finish in the 2024 Paris Olympics as he settled for a fourth place in the men's pole vault finals last Tuesday at the Stade de France.

But while he was devastated about the result, the 28-year-old Filipino athletics star said he is beaming with pride in seeing his longtime foes-turned-friends bag the coveted medals. Mondo Duplantis of Sweden set a new Olympic and world record en route to the gold medal while Sam Kendricks of USA and Emmanouil Karalis of Greece plucked the silver and bronze.

"We’re all friends there," Obiena shared during a Zoom press conference on Wednesday.

Obiena shared Karalis, the fourth place finisher back in the Tokyo Olympics, was actually the first one to console him after their tight affair that saw both athletes clearing 5.90 meters. But Obiena lost the bronze as the Greek bet had fewer fouls.

The World no. 2 Obiena was happy to see Karalis finally get his first-ever Olympic podium finish, sharing he has been seeing him put in the work ever since 2019 as they had conducted training together while also competing against each other.

"The first man that came to me was Emmanouil. I’ve known him since 2019. We’ve trained together and it was a really good dynamic that we have. We gave a good battle," Obiena added.

"I respect the guy and I’m happy for him, but at the same time, it sucks. [But] I want to be the first one to congratulate him."

Obiena is also glad to witness Kendricks nail his best Olympic finish as the American ace improved from his bronze medal run in 2016 and came back huge following a botched Tokyo Olympics bid, where Kendricks withdrew due to testing positive for COVID-19.

And Obiena has nothing but good words for Duplantis, whom he has been competing in various international events over the past years with the Swedish champion shattering record after record.

"Now, I’m happy for Sam for everything that he’s been through, getting his best Olympic finish yet and Mondo doing Mondo things. I think everybody has kind words."

—JMB, GMA Integrated News