Olmilla overcomes adversity through sheer determination

OLMILLA (CONTRIBUTED)

Just like any other athlete, Cebuano Joland Olmilla faced a lot of tests before becoming one of the top bets in the sport of duathlon.

Olmilla was once a runner before he fell in love with duathlon last year when he joined the National Duathlon Championships (NDC) in Cebu.

In his first race,  he immediately made an impact as he won the gold medal in the 20-24 age group.

Because his efforts, the 23-year-old Olmilla was eventually named into the national team last December.

But prior to becoming a successful duathlete, Olmilla had to jump through a whole lot of hoops.

First, his parents really didn’t approve of his desire to be an athlete.

“They didn’t want me to get into sports because I was getting very thin,” Olmilla said. “But even if they didn’t approve, I just continued until I became a National Team member. Now, I’m starting to get their support.”

Olmilla also struggled to find a bicycle but got some help from the Philippine Sports Commission and Ms. Rhoda Oporto.

Another test the Cabancalan, Mandaue City-native faced was from his peers, who tempted him to take illegal drugs to perform better in races.

But he said he declined to use drugs because he believed that with the proper training, one can defy the odds.

“We shouldn’t be tempted to do bad things like take illegal drugs. When I was offered, I turned it down because I knew my capability and I was confident of myself.”

Olmilla also said that kids who aspire to be a duathlete should believe in themselves, train hard and always use the negative comments of other people as motivation to work even harder.

Olmilla is presently undergoing rigid training in preparation for the second leg of the Pilipinas Duathlon Series which will fire off this Sunday in Cavite.

In the opening leg, Olmilla put up a remarkable performance by finishing tenth in the race with a time of 1:10:00.