THE solid work has only just begun for rower Cris Nievarez now that he is bound for the Tokyo Olympics.
The next two months will be busy for the 21-year-old Nievarez as they will all be about training and getting himself prepared for the “Greatest Show on Earth.”
Nievarez, along with Uzbekistan coach Shukhrat Ganiev and Edgardo Maerina, need to lay down their game plan as soon as possible after being notified by the World Rowing Federation that he qualified for Tokyo only on Monday morning.
“Our goal at the rowing team is to represent the country on the highest stage possible, most especially the Olympics,” Nievarez told the online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday. “I vow to give it my best shot, we have two months to prepare, it’s still very possible.”
Nievarez, a Grade 12 student at the Commonwealth High School, became the first Filipino rower to clinch an Olympic berth since the towering Benjie Tolentino competed in the Sydney 2000 Games.
As the country’s lone Olympic entry in men’s single sculls, Patrick Gregorio, president of the Philippine Rowing Association (PRA), vowed to give everything Nievarez needs for his preparations.
“Whatever he needs for his training the federation will provide,” Gregorio told the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Milo, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Unfortunately, the quarantine protocols in the country could get in the way of Nievarez’s planned overseas training.
Competing in a pre-Olympic tournament requires the Filipino to undergo a 10- or 14-day quarantine upon his return to the country—meaning Nievarez couldn’t train outdoors.
“We need to balance his foreign exposure with the protocols,” Gregorio said.
The good thing for Nievarez is he already had a feel of the Games venue he and four other rowers vied at the qualifiers last week at the Sea Forest Waterway on Tokyo Bay.
“I already got the feel of the water,” he said. “That’s an advantage.”
Nievarez is the eighth Filipino to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics after gymnast Carlos Yulo, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Nesthy Petecio, Irish Magno and Carlo Paalam.
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