CRIS NIEVAREZ earned a berth to the Tokyo Olympics—the eighth Filipino so far to do so—thanks to the World Rowing Federation (FISA) qualification system.
Nievarez could only finish ninth in the men’s singles sculls semifinals at the recent World Rowing Asia and Oceania Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay last Friday.
Nievarez and the rest of the five-member rowing team have gone home on Saturday night and are quarantined at a Pasay City hotel only for him to learn on Monday morning the great news.
“I just can’t believe it,” Nievarez said. “I thought I was done.”
Head coach Edgardo Maerina on Sunday said it will take some two to three weeks for FISA to announce the qualifiers. It didn’t take that long.
The FISA rules that a national Olympic committee (NOC) in the continental regattas could qualify only one athlete in each of the sport’s four events in Tokyo—men and women single and double sculls.
Five NOCs opted to put their qualified rowers in the double sculls, a decision that greatly favored the 21-year-old Nievarez, who found himself snaring the fourth of five qualifying slot for Asia in his event.
Japan’s Ryuta Arakawa, Iran’s Bahman Nasiri and Kazakhstan’s Vladislav Yakolev wound up 1-2-3 on the list of continental qualifiers, with Iraq’s Mohammed Al-Khafaji salvaging the last slot.
“This is a historic day for Philippine rowing,” Philippine Rowing Association President Patrick “Pato” Gregorio said. “After 21 long years, we again have a rower in the Olympics.”
Maerina owns the distinction as the first Filipino Olympic rower in Seoul 1988, and it took three Olympic cycles for another Filipino, Benjamin Tolentino, to compete in Sydney 2000.
“The last 12 months, even at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, PRA did its homework,” Gregorio said said. “We went through the arduous process of getting an ISO 9001 certification for the quality management process—the first for any national sports association in the country.”
Gregorio thanked the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), Smart and Maynilad for supporting the rowers.
“Congratulations and good work. We’re proud that we have an Olympic rower for the third time— an inspiration, too, for our athletes and youth,” POC President Rep. Abraham Tolentino said.
“I know that Cris and the entire rowing team worked hard for this, it is well-deserved,” PSC Chairman William Ramirez said. “The PSC will keep supporting Cris—in my book, he is already a champion.”
Nievarez committed to not becoming a mere Olympian, but vowed to target a podium finish.
“I want more, not only as a qualifier, but to win a medal, not just a medal but the gold,” he said. “There’s nothing to lose if I dream high.”
Nievarez is currently a Grade 12 student at the Commonwealth High School in Quezon City. He hails from Atimonan, Quezon, and is the youngest son of his mom, Sheryl. His elder brother Angelito is a fisherman and his sister Mary Rose is a housewife.
He won one of rowing’s two gold medals in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Carlo Paalam, Irish Magno and Nesthy Petecio, gymnast Carlos Yulo, pole vaulter EJ Obiena and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz have earlier qualified for the July 23 to August 8 Tokyo Games.
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