Antoinette Rivero: Torchbearer, Olympian, Filipina
March 4, 2007 | 12:00am
Mary Antoinette Rivero lit the torch at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in 2005 that was hosted by the Philippines  the showmanship part was easy, but this torchbearer still had a tall order to fill.
The 5’8" and 139-pound taekwondo player had yet to win a gold for her country, an expectation the home-court crowd screamed from the stands.
Getting into the ring at the SEA Games, Rivero recalls, "was scary because you have all of your countrymen cheering for you in your home country. You do not want to disappoint them because you know they want you to win  and you want so badly to give them that victory."
Rivero bagged the gold in the women’s featherweight division of the taekwondo competition  contributing to the high gold medal tally that gave the Philippines its first ever SEA Games championship.
For her, that moment was "so sweet, because you immediately see the happiness you have brought, with your best efforts, to the people who have given you all their support."
She also made a good showing at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, bringing home a hard-won silver medal.
She has been on Team Philippines since the age of 13, after following her two elder brothers’ footsteps. She carries the Philippine flag each time she competes for glory and country because "it is sort of a family tradition."
At 16, she competed in the 2004 Olympics in Greece. She competed in the under 67-kilogram division of the taekwondo meet.
Rivero defeated The Netherlands’ Charmaine Sobers. Her quest for Olympic gold, however, was stopped in the quarterfinals by Elisavet Mystakidou of Greece.
Not having won any medals in the last Olympics does not deter her from going for gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics: "I will do my best. I have been training very hard for this."
She trains for eight hours daily, with the rest of her life scheduled around her training. "I train three times a day with the team," she said, for two to three hours of intensive resistance, endurance, weights and sparring training each session.
"Our family is very close and we have a common interest, martial arts," she said. "My father is into combat judo, my mother practices karate and my two elder brothers and I are all into taekwondo."
Rivero said her mother wanted ballet lessons for her, but added that "I wanted to do what my brothers were doing, so I went into taekwondo."
She began taekwondo lessons at age four, but had a few years pause when she turned seven to focus on her studies. "I got back into taekwondo at age 11 and have been in training since," she said.
Her medals hang alongside her brothers’ medals on the wall beside the Rivero residence staircase, their mother says with pride. Rivero credits her mother for those wins because "Mom trained us all."
She also has a practical streak: "I’m looking at taking Communication Arts at the Ateneo. I’d like to be like Dyan Castillejo," another Filipina Olympian who is her role model.
The 5’8" and 139-pound taekwondo player had yet to win a gold for her country, an expectation the home-court crowd screamed from the stands.
Getting into the ring at the SEA Games, Rivero recalls, "was scary because you have all of your countrymen cheering for you in your home country. You do not want to disappoint them because you know they want you to win  and you want so badly to give them that victory."
Rivero bagged the gold in the women’s featherweight division of the taekwondo competition  contributing to the high gold medal tally that gave the Philippines its first ever SEA Games championship.
For her, that moment was "so sweet, because you immediately see the happiness you have brought, with your best efforts, to the people who have given you all their support."
She also made a good showing at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, bringing home a hard-won silver medal.
She has been on Team Philippines since the age of 13, after following her two elder brothers’ footsteps. She carries the Philippine flag each time she competes for glory and country because "it is sort of a family tradition."
At 16, she competed in the 2004 Olympics in Greece. She competed in the under 67-kilogram division of the taekwondo meet.
Rivero defeated The Netherlands’ Charmaine Sobers. Her quest for Olympic gold, however, was stopped in the quarterfinals by Elisavet Mystakidou of Greece.
Not having won any medals in the last Olympics does not deter her from going for gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics: "I will do my best. I have been training very hard for this."
She trains for eight hours daily, with the rest of her life scheduled around her training. "I train three times a day with the team," she said, for two to three hours of intensive resistance, endurance, weights and sparring training each session.
"Our family is very close and we have a common interest, martial arts," she said. "My father is into combat judo, my mother practices karate and my two elder brothers and I are all into taekwondo."
Rivero said her mother wanted ballet lessons for her, but added that "I wanted to do what my brothers were doing, so I went into taekwondo."
She began taekwondo lessons at age four, but had a few years pause when she turned seven to focus on her studies. "I got back into taekwondo at age 11 and have been in training since," she said.
Her medals hang alongside her brothers’ medals on the wall beside the Rivero residence staircase, their mother says with pride. Rivero credits her mother for those wins because "Mom trained us all."
She also has a practical streak: "I’m looking at taking Communication Arts at the Ateneo. I’d like to be like Dyan Castillejo," another Filipina Olympian who is her role model.
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