Was there truth to the accusations?

“If you want a textbook example of how to destroy an athlete, you are seeing it right here, right now.” – EJ Obiena@News5PH @onenewsph @OneSportsPHL pic.twitter.com/XZdSznJ6H8

— Martie (@martie_bautista) November 21, 2021

Shortly after the news broke, a distressed Obiena held a mini live press conference with Petrov. His coach of seven years refuted the accusations and confirmed that the athlete paid his dues. Obiena showed documents as proof, the same one he reportedly sent to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to clear his name. Even Petrov released a statement that sided with Obiena:

Olympian EJ Obiena’s Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov also releases his statement against the allegations made by PATAFA.

“I have been fully paid this sum (85,000€) by EJ both directly and indirectly. I confirm this. I have no problem with EJ Obiena.” pic.twitter.com/vLlVnIwDwm

— Dyan Castillejo (@DYANCASTILLEJO) November 22, 2021

Lafferty during his interview with Gretchen Ho confirmed that Obiena used his funding properly. “There were payments made to Vitaly Petrov in 2019, 2020, 2021. Anyone saying that he had only paid recently in 2021, that is an outright false statement,” he said.

#TheBigStory: I spoke with Jim Lafferty, EJ Obiena’s long-time mentor and owner of the “Dubai account”.

“There were payments made to Vitaly Petrov in 2019, 2020, 2021. Anyone saying that he had only paid recently in 2021, that is an outright false statement.” @onenewsph pic.twitter.com/5zoylSiil7

— Gretchen Ho (@gretchenho) November 26, 2021

EJ Obiena releases his own statement

Obiena himself released a statement on social media last November 23. He mentioned that he was “personally shocked at the shifting allegations of PATAFA who changed their “embezzlement” accusation to saying Obiena was late in paying his team. “Late” is a far cry from “embezzlement” after all. The athlete admitted that he often could not pay his team on time but, “I am not a lawyer, but as far as I know, paying late isn’t a crime.”

An accountant-athlete: Where it all went wrong

‘DO YOU WANT MEDALS OR DO YOU WANT ACCOUNTANT-ATHLETES?’

Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena fired back at PATAFA on Tuesday after the federation accused the Olympian of allegedly embezzling his training funds and not paying his coach Vitaly Petrov. pic.twitter.com/RugvNH3b5q

— The Philippine Star (@PhilippineStar) November 23, 2021

Obiena revealed that he is the “paymaster” of his own team. A job he must do on top of coordinating his training and competitions plus logistic transports on his own.

“I already admitted, I am a pole vaulter — not an accountant,” Obiena said in his statement. “No other athlete here in the Olympic Training Center carries my burden of administration. I have repeatedly asked PATAFA to pay my coaches directly and to stop requiring me to disperse all funds. First, the extra work I need to do, other than competing for the country, and not to mention the fees I need to shoulder for these transfers.”

Lafferty provided insight into the monetary situation by sharing that PATAFA usually sends Obiena money in a lump sum, leaving the athlete to divide it himself for his team and other fees. PATAFA sends this in Philippine currency, not bothering to do the exchange to euros. Obiena has to convert the money himself to be able to pay his team. He sometimes asks Lafferty to pay his team in euro and Obiena has to wire the amount in peso to Lafferty’s account.

Obiena did put up a job posting last November 13, days before the PATAFA letter, for a personal assistant who has  “a good command of financial management and facts and figures.”

Netizens lament the situation

EJ Obiena trending for days now.
What a sad situation.
Must it really come down to this?

After a glorious year for Philippine sports, you’d think things would change.. somehow. But all this says is, there’s a lot more work to be done.

— Gretchen Ho (@gretchenho) November 23, 2021

Netizens have their own opinions on the controversy. Many are calling out PATAFA for trying to put down their top athlete. Some are also afraid that Obiena might end up vaulting for a different country just like how Wesley So is now an American citizen and Yuka Saso is now playing for Japan. If our top athletes continue to shift sides, where will that leave us? After a good run in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Filipinos are expecting an even better Paris 2024 Olympics. But that will only happen if our government takes care of our athletes.

EJ Obiena’s achievements

Obiena has brought pride and joy to the country with his achievements. He won silver during the 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and bronze during the 2017 Asian Championships. In 2019, he took home three gold medals for the SEA Games in the Philippines, Asian Championships in Doha, and Universiade in Italy. Although he only placed 11th during the last Olympics, he has continuously improved his jumps since. He soared to World No. 5 ranking last September after finishing second place at the 2021 Paris Diamond League. In the same event, he set the Philippine national record to 5.91-meters from 5.87-meters, beating a record he set himself.

He’s clearly just getting started. It would be a shame if this controversy pushes Obiena to retire early or to lose focus on his training. We’re still hoping to see him compete for the Paris 2024 Olympics!

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