Filipino-American Club of the Jersey Shore, Monmouth County, New Jersey, filamorg.com

Courtesy of:  Cherie M. Querol Moreno,  Philippine News,  www.philippinenews.com,  February 19, 2010

"  J.R. Celski takes bronze; Evora does personal best
AT least two Americans of Filipino descent are known to be among the 2010 Winter Olympics contenders, escalating global interest in the sports competition traditionally dominated by athletes from Europe.

Monterey, California-born J.R. Celski became the first Filipino American speedskater to earn a medal in the Winter Olympics by placing third in the 1,500-meter final Feb. 13 in Vancouver.   New York native Amanda Evora, meanwhile, with partner Mark Ladwig, are the United States’ best bet in pairs figure skating, a competition where no Americans have won gold since 1908.  Evora and Ladwig nabbed 10^th place in the short program preliminary Feb. 14....

Celski and Evora have more in common besides a passion for skating:  They’re both the youngest of three children and Vancouver is their first Olympics.  Celski whizzed right behind two-time Olympic champion Apolo Anton Ohno, who took the silver in their first race.  

Just seconds from the finish line, however, the two Asian Americans trailed three South Koreans who appeared headed for a sweep.  But as the skaters dash in the final turn, Lee Ho-Suk’s attempt to surge past compatriot Sung Si-bak resulted in both spilling out of the track, opening the path for Ohno and Celski to swoosh in after the leader Lee Jung-su.   “We have more races coming up but I think we’ve proven we’ve got a great team,” a humble Celski, 19, said minutes after. 

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics are especially significant for the celebrated Ohno and the upcoming Celski.  In what he concedes may be his final Olympics, Ohno is poised to become the most decorated American athlete in any winter Olympics having tied Bonnie Blair with his silver, and with more events to come.  

For new Olympian Celski, on the other hand, his victorious first race was just what any sports therapist might recommend given his potentially career-ending accident last year.   While competing in the September Olympic trials in Michigan, Celski slashed his leg with his own blade.  The gash was an inch away from his femoral artery, took 60 stitches to close up, and over five months of rehabilitation.

“When I first saw the opening, I was overwhelmed. It was really crazy to look at, and I thought at one point during the night that I was going to die,” he recounted the incident to reporters.  “But I guess in those moments, it's where we truly define ourselves. I pushed forward. I knew I could do it and that's how I was able to recover so fast. I definitely learned that I was a lot stronger than I thought I was. I never looked back after I fell. I think that was the biggest thing.”

The 2009 World Champion speedskater understands that any sport is as much about the mind as it is about the body.  "I needed that to mentally prepare myself for what could happen in the future,” Celski looked back at the experience.  “I'm glad I had a chance to fall. I know that sounds kind of ridiculous. I did have flashbacks, at first, but last night I didn't think about my leg the whole night."   Before the surgery, Celski had asked his doctor to photograph his wound.  The picture, which he likes to flash from his Iphone, reminds him of what he has overcome.   Ice has been both friend and foe to the Sue Sabado Celski’s  youngest son.  She was pregnant with J.R. when she slipped on ice and almost had a miscarriage.

“I almost lost him then," she shared after J.R.’s first race. "But I just had this hope inside me. I never thought it was over that day when I fell on the ice and I wasn't going to think it was over now.”   Tears rolled down Sue’s eyes as she and husband Bob watched their son on the winners’ podium pointing to the leg that clearly has healed.

 

PERFECT TRIPLE LOOP

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver mark the first for figure skaters Evora and Ladwig, who have been consistently placing in the top five at national contests.  The pair took the silver in the 2010 U.S. Championship.   In the Feb. 14 first round of the pairs skating short program, Evora perfected a triple loop to the delight of the crowd, landing with an perfectly half-moon smile in Ladwig’s arms.

After the freeskate, the pair sealed their spot in 10^th place, their current personal best.  The gold and silver went to the Chinese pairs, signaling a historic shift in events that were Russian turf for 40 years.  Germany took the bronze.   The 25-year-old Filipina American is a lithe 5 feet and a shade under 100 pounds.  She was 6 years old when she first tried on her sister’s skates and has been gliding on the rinks ever since.

Evora’s parents Vic and Maryanne relocated from the Philippines to New York in 1972 when Vic, a chemical engineer, enrolled at Columbia University.  Ten years later the Evoras moved again, this time to Bahrain.  They returned to New York in time for their youngest daughter’s birth on November 17, 1984.   Off the ice, Evora is taking up business administration at the University of South Florida.  She and Ladwig train in Bradenton, Florida, with U.S. champions Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, who happens to be Evora’s boyfriend of five years.   “Personal is personal,” Evora stressed the boundaries she and Barrett have set.  “Business is business.”

The couple postponed their Valentine’s Day celebration to compete.  In the end, Evora and Ladwig bested Denney and Barrett, who finished 13^th in the same finals."