Workforce Philippines gymnast Levi Jung-Ruivivar throughout coaching forward of the Paris Olympics 2024 gymnastics competitors. –Levi Jung-Ruivivar Instagram
PARIS—One of many issues that stored Levi Jung-Ruivivar in contact together with her Filipino aspect is her love for gymnastics.
In any case, her dad, Anthony, was a member of the US junior gymnastics squad and represents the Filipino aspect of Jung-Ruivivar.
“Rising up, Filipino tradition has been an important a part of my life and I’m past grateful to connect with my Filipino tradition by way of my love of gymnastics,” the Hawaii-born teenager wrote on her social media account.
Now she will get to do the Philippines an enormous favor.
Fittingly, within the French capital generally known as the Metropolis of Mild, Jung-Ruivivar will probably be one among three feminine gymnasts out to emerge of the large shadow forged by two-time world champion Carlos Yulo as they plunge into motion within the ladies’s all-around competitors within the Paris Olympics on Sunday right here.
The 18-year-old Jung-Ruivivar is the youngest of the trio, which can even embrace Aleah Finnegan and Emma Malabuyo.
“I’ve by no means fought for one thing so onerous in my life,” Malabuyo wrote on her social media account, including that whereas the prospects of competing towards the world’s greatest beneath the brightest sporting lights was daunting, “I’m extra petrified of not making an attempt in any respect.”
The three gymnasts will spotlight a day when Workforce Philippines will depend on feminine athletes to shoulder its hopes within the Summer time Video games.
The Philippines is likely one of the nations that helped make the Paris Video games extra gender-equal when it comes to female and male illustration. Workforce Philippines has 15 feminine athletes and 7 males.
Biggest battle
Jung-Ruivivar gained the silver medal within the uneven bars in the course of the World Cup Sequence in Doha, Qatar, final April, bolstering her credentials heading into Paris.
“With the ability to compete for the Philippines fills me with a lot delight, appreciation and pleasure,” she stated.
Malabuyo needed to go the additional mile for an Olympic berth, and now she’s prepared for what could possibly be her biggest battle in a younger embellished profession.
She lastly booked her Paris ticket after ending third within the all-around occasion of the Asian Gymnastics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Finnegan, 21, has been a member of the PH group because the Hanoi Southeast Asian Video games two years in the past.
Finnegan turned the primary feminine Filipino gymnast to qualify for the Olympics since 1964. Two extra Filipino ladies open their very own bids additionally on Sunday, this time in fencing, though one will probably be representing a unique federation.
Former eight-time nationwide champion Maxine Esteban, who switched the Ivory Coast federation after she was unceremoniously dropped by the Philippine nationwide group, competes within the ladies’s foil competitors primary draw.
The Filipino-Ivorian Esteban battles Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Pauline Ranvier, the hometown guess who’s seeded thirteenth within the round-of-32.
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Samantha Catantan, in the meantime, will undergo a wild-card fence-off towards Brazil’s World no. 240 Mariana Pistoia. Catantan is favored in that duel and if type holds, she is going to advance to the principle draw towards World No. 2 Arianna Errigo. —WITH REPORTS FROM OLYMPICS DISPATCH
Observe Inquirer Sports activities’ particular protection of the Paris Olympics 2024.