RIO DE JANEIRO—The tears that rolled from Kirstie Elaine Alora’s eyes could not deny her extreme disappointment about her Olympic debut.
Alora’s campaign, the last among the 13 Filipino athletes, would be remembered by the defeats she absorbed from a former world and Olympic champion from Mexico and a Morrocan who was lucky to be born tall.
“I feel very sad,” Alora, who aimed for a bronze medal in the women’s +67 kgs repechages of taekwondo.
But her faith relieved her of the pain.
“My journey in this Olympics is God’s will. And whatever happened to me here, it’s because He doesn’t like me to quit taekwondo.
Top-seeded Maria Espinoza beat the No. 16 ranked Alora, 4-1, in the first round—her second conquest of Alora—since 2009 in Beijing in 2009—that taught the Filipina precious lessons on staying focused and relaxed on the biggest sporting stage.
In the repechages, Alora was a 5-foot-8 David against a 5-foot-11 Wilam Dislam and crashed out, 5-7, but not without a fight. Alora managed a 5-4 lead but the ninth-seeded Morrocan scored three straight points in the final 20 seconds.
Alora could have turned things around with a possible three-point head kick in that stretch, but her foot only grazed the left side of Dislam’s head and was not strong enough to trigger the electronic sensor. “This is another sad moment,” were the first words Alora told Filipino journalists.
A sad moment, indeed, for the last woman standing on Team Philippines, who waited 28 days to do battle in Rio and wait seven more excruciating hours for her fate in the repechages.
Espinoza made the final, but failed to give Mexico its only gold medal in Rio after she lost to a 6-foot-2, No. 2 seed Zheng Shuyin of China.
“It’s all God’s will, this Rio Olympics. God wants me to improve my taekwondo, to do better, to eliminate my mistakes,” Alora said. “Perhaps, He wants me to become an Asian champion, a world champion before I become an Olympic champion.”
The Rio experience, her first, was sour, but it didn’t weigh down on the two-time Asian Games bronze medalist. It only urged her to keep on.
“I am happy with what I experienced here. This is a motivation for me to continue with my taekwondo,” said Alora, who only had Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission officials and her parents, Pablito and Marilou, and sister Kathlyn, to cheer for her at the Carioca Arena 3, as all of her teammates have gone home.
Except in London four years ago, the Philippines have been qualifying jins since taekwondo became a medal sport in Sydney 2000. But no Filipino has never won a taekwondo medal.
“For as long as I stay healthy and my association [Philippine Taekwondo Association] still sees me fit to compete and become a national athlete, I will continue fighting,” Alora said.