Elma leaves golden legacy

KUALA LUMPUR – With Elma Muros-Posadas vowing to really, really bow out of the Southeast Asian Games this time, the veteran track star leaves the scene with one glowing legacy intact.

Since the 1983 Singapore SEA Games, Elma, now 34, has not returned home without at least one gold medal around her neck from the sportsfest.

In the Kuala Lumpur Games, Elma did it again by clinching the gold in the women’s heptathlon last Saturday, a result she hardly expected considering that she hardly prepared for the event.

"Wala talaga akong ensayo sa event na ito. Kaya lang ako sumali dahil sabi ni Jojo (Posadas, her husband-coach) para alalayan si Percela Molina na unang sali sa hepta sa SEA Games," she said.

"Hindi talaga namin pinaghandaan ang hepta. Ni wala nga kaming endurance training. ‘Yung gamit na dala nga ni Elma ay ‘yun din ang ginamit niya," echoed Jojo. "Kaya ko ipinasali si Elma ay para hindi kabahan si Percela."

But instead of providing support for her teammate, Elma found herself showing the way in the event before eventually ruling the seven-sport discipline with a score of 5,059 points.

Molina copped the silver with a tally of 4,687, while Vietnam’s Vu Bich Hung settled for the bronze with a score of 4,427.

With the triumph, the track standout duplicated her heptathlon victory in the 1997 Jakarta SEA Games and bagged her 15th gold overall in two decades of participation in the biennial meet.

Elma, who relinquished her long jump title to a Vietnamese, insisted that the KL Games would be her last, saying: "Totoong-totoo na ito. Ito na ang huli kong SEA Games. Masaya na ako sa nagawa ko dito."

As for her future plans, she disclosed that Philippine Sports Commission chairman Carlos Tuason has invited her to be a consultant of the government sports agency to share her vast track experience to budding athletes at the grassroots.