AFTER clinching the country’s first silver medal in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), 17-year-old kiteboarder Christian Tio has set his sights on a higher goal—a gold in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where the watersport is making its debut as a medal event.
“Kiteboarding will be an Olympic sport in 2024 in Paris—and that’s part of the plan,” Tio told a press conference on Monday at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex where he and the other Buenos Aires YOG medalists were presented by Philippine Sports Commission Commissioners Arnold Agustin and Celia Kiram.
But before plunging back to training, Tio will be savoring a P2.5-million cash incentive for his silver under the expanded Republic Act 10699, or the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentive Act. Tio and the medalists in the Jakarta 2018 Asian Para Games will receive their bonuses from the government in formal ceremonies in Malacañang next month.
“I got six more years to prepare and get better every day,” added the Filipino-Norwegian Tio, who was joined by his mother Liezl Mohn and Chef de Mission to the YOG Jonne Go, also the president of the Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragonboat Federation.
Agustin congratulated Tio “for giving the Philippines its first medal in the Youth Olympic Games” and assured him of the PSC’s full support in his campaign for Paris 2024.
Slovenia’s Toni Vodisek won the gold and Dominican Republic’s Deury Corniel won the men’s twin tip racing gold and silver, respectively, in Buenos Aires.
Tio said he did not exactly expected to land a medal in Argentina.
“With all the postponements happening for the finals race because of the inclement weather, I was already expecting a fourth-place finish or just a bronze. But I just went all in and made it through,” said the Boracay-native.
“I am very proud of Christian for what he’s achieved,” said his mother Liezl, a kiteboarder herself who introduced Tio to the sport when he was only seven years old.
Go intimated that she banked on Tio for a medal he qualified for the YOG.
“I looked over his credentials and had a gut-feel he will deliver,” Go said.
Tio said that with the Philippines surrounded by thousands of kilometers of beaches, the country could be the next hotbed for extreme water sports.
Growing up near the beachfront of the world-renowned tourist destination became a great advantage for Tio to harness his skills in the sport. And he encouraged more Filipinos to try the sport.
“Hopefully more will enter the sport and it will get much bigger because we have many islands,” he said.
Tio trained for one month in Dominican Republic to acclimatize and adjust to the time zone in South America.