JAKARTA—Only a day after winning gold in the 18th Asian Games, Margielyn Arda Didal has already set her next target: the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“I want to earn qualifying points for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games,” Didal said barely 24 hours after snatching the women’s skateboard street gold medal at the Jakabaring Sport City Skate Park in Palembang.
Her gold medal was the fourth for the country in these Asian Games that will close on Sunday.
Unlike in the old days when almost anybody could go to the Olympics, qualifying for the Summer Games is like sneaking one’s body into the head of a needle. An athlete must perform well in qualifying tournaments to become an Olympian.
In the case of skateboarding, which will debut as a medal sport in Tokyo, it will take a series of qualifiers to determine the 80 participants in the discipline—20 each in the men and women’s park and street events.
As host, Japan is guaranteed one slot in each of the four events while the top 3 finishers in the world championships immediately before the Olympics will earn tickets to Tokyo.
The remaining 16 slots will be based on the Olympic skateboarding world rankings by June 2020, with a country allowed to field as many as three eligible skateboarders in each of the four events.
Didal and the other Olympic skateboarding hopefuls from all over the world will have their first crack at earning qualifying points in the Street League Skateboarding world championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in January.
“While there will also be Olympic qualifiers in Asia, we are lining up Margie to compete in Rio so she can earn a maximum of ranking points,” bared Skateboard Association of the Philippines Inc. President Monty Mendigoria of their plans for the outstanding Cebuana skateboarder.
Didal herself disclosed that she would be competing before the end of the year at an all-women speed skate event in San Diego, California.
Asked what she would do with the multimillion bonanza—at least P6 million from the government and the private sector—for her golden effort, the perky Didal replied: “Maybe we will put up a family business—because I won’t be a skateboarder for the rest of my life.”
Indeed, it was a rags-to-riches story since she was discovered six years ago by coach Danny Bautista while helping her mother, a sidewalk vendor, selling kwek kwek (hard-boiled eggs deep-fried in flour batter) just outside the Concave Skate Park in Lahug, Cebu City.
“Margie took one look at my skateboard and tried it out. I knew then she had a knack for the sport,” said Bautista of the street kid who became an instant prodigy once she got the hang of the sport, often competing against boys until she surpassed them in both skill and ability.
Among her previous achievements were, take note, ruling the men’s Class A title, as well as “Best Trick” honors in the Pangasinan skateboarding championships in 2016.
In 2017 she ruled the men’s division of the Iloilo leg of the Vans Tour on top garnering top honors in “The Best Line.”
Didal credits her stint in the Street League Skateboarding championships in London in May and her Xtreme Games outing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in July as the perfect Asian Games buildup.