As painful as it may feel, a lesson is still a lesson.
Following a disappointing finish in the Asian Games’ women’s single sculls final, Olympic rower Joanie Delgaco said she is bent on turning her pain to improvement moving forward.
In the medal round of the single sculls, Delgaco finished last in a six-player field.
She had a time of 8:01.63, more than 40 seconds behind the gold medalist Zhang Xinyu of China.
The Filipina also finished 10 seconds behind fifth-placed Ching-yang Wen of Chinese Taipei.
‘Ngayong race po, nagpapasalamat po ako kasi natapos ko yung race na maayos. Hindi ko lang maiwas na umiyak. Kasi tingin ko hindi yun yung best ko talaga. Isa itong lesson sa akin na para bumawi sa susunod na laban,’ an emotional Delgaco said after her event, as posted by One Sports.
‘Hindi pa dito tatapos yung karera. Siguro ito yung magiging motivation ko next year and sa susunod na qualification sa Olympics,’ she added.
The 28-year-old Delgaco actually had a better performance in the final compared to the heats.
The Paris Olympian tallied a time of 8:25.47 in the Heat 2 on Wednesday.
She said she felt that she ‘moved differently.’
‘Parang nag-iba po kasi yung galaw ko ngayon. Hindi ko rin po ma-explain. Kasi parang napakalayo sa performance ko dati sa ngayon. Pero wala po ako pinagsisihan kasi binigay ko naman lahat ng makakaya ko,’ she said.
‘Wala po akong tinira sa sarili ko. Yung natutunan ko sa sarili ko is siguro yung maging humble ka lang sa sarili mo and lagi ka lang nakaapak sa lupa. Maging matyaga talaga sa lahat ng proseso and hindi rin po talaga madali lahat ng pinagdadaanan ng lahat ng atleta bago marating yung ganitong competition na nasa taas talaga.’
For now, a gold medal remains elusive for Team Philippines.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Philippines has a silver medal and four bronze medals.