Pole vaulter had spine surgery just 10 days before Olympics and still finished fourth

Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena's coach has explained the struggles he's faced behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics .

During a press conference call with Obiena, Jim Lafferty revealed the 28-year-old Olympian had a secret procedure done on his spine just days before the start of the Games. Lafferty believed that had Obiena been 100 percent healthy for the games, he could have had an even more successful run in Paris, potentially challenging Armand Duplantis, Sam Kendricks, and Emmanouil Karalis.

"So 10 days before the Olympic Games, he's not even vaulting and we had no opportunity to vault," Lafferty explained, as per the Philippine Star . "What did we do? None of you know this - this is only known by a few people - we put EJ on a plane to Italy and in over a 24-hour period, he left France, left the training camp in Normandy, flew to Rome, met with the doctors, had the procedure done, then we put him back on a plane, brought back to France."

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From that point, Lafferty added that Obiena took a "48-hour recovery period" before only beginning to prepare for the event. Despite how much it took out of Obiena to even compete after his spinal procedure, Lafferty commends the Filipino for competing as hard as he did considering the circumstances.

"The fact that he competed, in my opinion, is amazing," his coach continued. "The fact that he came in fourth is beyond amazing. I mean he couldn't even carry his pole. We've looked at it, and EJ can share more, he only got one workout session with the pole before the Olympic Games."

Lafferty added that he and Obiena have looked over the film and determined he fully cleared 5.95m on his attempts. However, the 28-year-old's technique needed polishing, which given the proper time to practice, would have been the difference from a fourth-place finish to an Olympic medal, almost joining Carlos Yulo as the other male Filipino Olympian .

Despite the struggles, Obiena was still among the best pole vaulters in the world, which is why Lafferty is "proud" to be on the Filipino's side. "The toughness and the unwillingness to make excuses, I think everybody should be so proud of him and that's the real story," he surmised.

"I don't think anybody else in the Paris Olympics was flown out of Paris in the middle of the night to a doctor in another country and then flown back. That's what he went through behind the scenes; He never wanted to tell anyone about that but I think that you should know the real story of what he went through and how amazing that fourth place is."

Obiena then spoke about how being "realistic," sharing that he did believe he would be in Paris for the Olympics just a year ago. "You know, sports, you never know," the 28-year-old said. "We push ourselves, our body to the limits and things happen."

Obiena and Lafferty's comments come after the Filipino gave an emotional speech after just missing out on an Olympic medal. The 28-year-old apologized for his performance and explained how crushed he was for missing out on glory by the smallest of margins.

"It’s like literally the same height and I missed it by one attempt. One attempt to an Olympic medal,” Obiena said, per Inquirer . "I think just consistency overall. I missed one attempt. Sports is beautiful but also brutal. I understand that. [It’s the] consistency I’m lacking. I felt like I needed a little bit more time, but it’s the Olympics, it’s not going to wait for anybody. I’m just here doing everything that I can."