Margie Didal struggled but powered through pain to end in seventh place in the women’s street event at the inaugural Olympic skateboarding tournament at the Ariake Skateboarding Park, Monday.
The Cebu-native told MVP Sports Foundation ambassador Gretchen Ho after the prelims, “Ano man ang mangyari sa finals, I’ll be proud to represent the Philippines.”
And she did just that, with a performance worth watching and worth being proud of.
Didal went for smooth and clean passes on the Runs section, with two runs scoring in the 2’s. She opened the final with a 2.33 and then followed it up with a 2.22, to find herself in 7th place after this part of the competition.
The 25-year-old upstart missed on her first trick but got onto the board with solid execution of a 50-50 for a 2.97.
Didal, however, tweaked her ankle a little on her fourth trick and shook it off on her final attempt. Nonetheless, she could not nail that 50-50, settling for her final score and the finish.
With the five other skaters out of the running, it was a matter of positioning for Brazil’s Rayssa Leal and Japan’s Nishiya Momiji and Nakayama Funa.
In the end, the 13-year-old Nishiya landed her last trick to capture the gold for the host. Leal and Nakayama took silver and bronze, respectively.
“We made it to the finals but we were not able to carry the flag onto the podium. We would like to thank the POC most especially Congressman Tolentino for doing everything to get us to our first Olympics. Most especially cheering Margie on today to get us to the finals and looking out for us in all ways, always. So stoked, may Olympian skateboarder po tayo, Paris 2024 we coming at you!,” said SkatePilipinas president Carl Sambrano.
With the sport making its second run three years from now in Paris, Didal will look to qualify once more and will attempt to bounce back from this finish and experience.
“This is for the country. I’m really proud to represent the Philippines,” said Didal.
