INTRODUCING: TEAM EJ OBIENA By Josef Ramos
ERNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA’S quest for the men’s pole vault gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics goes full throttle with his very own Team EJ now in place.
“This is where the hard work comes, to build a strong foundation, that’s why I need to train and condition myself with the help of my team,” Obiena told Businessmirror on Monday from his training base in Formia, Italy.
In the mold of Olympic weightlifting gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz Naranjo’s Team HD, Team EJ is made up of:
⯀ Vitaly Petrov (Ukraine) Coach and Trainer
⯀ Antonio Guglietta (Italy) Physiotherapist
⯀ Francesco Niko Viscusi (Italy) Masseur
⯀ Sheryll Casuga (Philippines) Sports Psychologist
⯀ Caroline Lafferty (Canada) Nutritionist
⯀ Jim Lafferty (US) Mentor/ Adviser
The objective, Obiena said, is to have him qualify for the Paris Olympics and along the way, build up his his bid at breaking the 6.0-meter mark in his event.
Jim Lafferty said that Obiena’s successful campaign would depend on the people around, adding the world championships bronze medalist is now surrounded with people who are experts in their fields.
“Nobody wins alone and it takes a village to make a champion,” Lafferty said.
Jim Lafferty has been very much in Obiena’s athletics career.
“I’ve been with the Laffertys since 2015. Jim gave me a pole when I needed one that year,” Obiena said. “He’s always there helping athletes like me.”
Jim Lafferty was a former CEO of Procter and Gamble, Coca-cola and British American Tobacco all in the Philippines.
Obiena said Guglietta, 38, has years of experience as an osteopath dealing with soccer players and Olympic track and field athletes and swimmers.
Viscusi is in his early 20s and is the youngest member of the team.
“He determines if there’s a tightness in my hamstring and he’s with Vitaly most of the time. He gives comments to Vitaly every training about my muscles’ conditions,” Obiena said. “He was Thiago’s [Da Silva] masseur after the Rio Olympics.”
Casuga, on the other hand, is a Filipino clinical psychologist based in San Francisco, California. a A graduate of the University of the Philippines, Casuga works with the US Olympics Committee and handles several athletes on the US Olympic team.
Caroline Lafferty, Jim’s wife, is EJ’S nutritionist since 2018. Petrov?
The three-time Olympic champion who’s now 77—his coaching skills are legendary having produced world champions Sergey Bubka and Yelena Isinbayeva and Rio Olympics gold winner Thiago Da Silva—needed no introduction.
“Petrov is the captain of the ship,” said Obiena, who started training with Petrov in 2014. “He puts direction wherever I go.”
Diaz Naranjo now has her famous Tea m HD, a group that significantly helped mold her to become an Olympic champion. Her team is composed of her husband Julius Naranjo as head trainer, Jeaneth Aro as nutritionist and Karen Katrina Trinidad as sports psychologist. Former Chinese Head Coach Kaiwen Gao was on the team but has since returned to Beijing.