Daring darling wins last gold

BUSAN, South Korea — The last pretty woman standing did it.

Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, bless her heart, rode flawlessly aboard a horse she almost left behind and won the individual showjumping gold.

The 28-year-old Mikee upset some of the world’s finest riders and gave a late surge of joy to erase the residue of the basketball debacle very much in the air.

That handed the Philippines its third gold on the very last day of the Busan Asian Games, giving the nation its best finish in 16 years on overall medal count.

But it wasn’t easy. Although Mikee and her team, the only all-woman team in the cast, won the silver in the team showjumping that gave her a feel of the course and the accompanying pressure, she had to go through a nail-biting jumpoff with Korean Jin Kyung Lee.

"Today was our day. We couldn’t believe it basta pumasok lang kami and we did our best," said Mikee.

For the third time the strains of the national anthem were played, this time on the barren field of Busan and Mikee brushed away a tear as she stood on the podium. Then she made a gesture of magnanimity as she brought up Jin, a friend in her training days in Australia, to share the gold medal stand.

There were handshakes and photo ops, then the pretty Filipina, resplendent on her riding suit, boarded her horse Rustic Rouge and made a triumphant run on the course, waving a huge Philippine flag.

Facing a course toughened further for the event and a shortened time limit, Cojuangco-Jaworski handled the eight-year-old chestnut mare expertly through the obstacles and, in one swift motion with the horse, went over the difficult wall, the last obstacle, that earlier the Korean failed to.

She raised her hand in triumph and started hugging her teammates and supporters while her father, former Congressman Peping Cojuangco, the equestrian president, waved and clapped furiously on the stand.

"Dinadaan ko na lang sa dasal, mula umpisa pakiramdam ko hindi ako ang gumagawa, I just wanted to do my best at kung ano ang ipagkaloob, iyun ang makukuha," said Mikee, a mother of two whose husband Dudut celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday.

She stunned the field right in the first round where she emerged as one of only four riders, out of the top 20 entries, who made a perfect ride.

Two other Filipinos, Danielle Cojuangco, on top of Ascot T, made four penalty points in the morning and two in the afternoon for six while Toni Leviste had a poor first round aboard Nazli and was out of contention with 13 penalty points.

In the afternoon session, Mikee also ran perfectly but drew two penalty points for failing to make the 61-second time limit with 62.61 time. Jin, riding Uncle Harry, also absorbed two points with 62.02 clocking.

That set the stage for the jumpoff. "The jumpoff was very exciting. It was nerve-wracking because we knew we were up against time," said coach Mitos Bilofsky. The jumpoff was put at 52-second limit with Mikee riding at 44.46 and Lee 43.94 but with four penalty points.

Cojuangco-Jaworski has been riding since she was 10 at their hacienda in Tarlac and had a string of victories abroad, including one last year in New Delhi but she took time off from show jumping when she gave birth to her second child, Rafael, now nine months old.

She was destined to win the gold, even against an elite cast that included bronze medallist Tadayoshi Hayashi, 11th placer in the Sydney Games following a decision to bring in Rustic Rouge over Luisita, her horse in the Bangkok Games.

"We felt she still needs some improvement," said Jaworski, a psychology graduate from Ateneo. All their efforts paid off, said the elder Cojuangco: "They really worked hard for this, all their sacrifices and efforts paid off. She had to go to Malaysia and Australia to train for this." Undoubtedly an elitist sport back home, the victories of the equestrian riders will surely open new perspective for this discipline and may gain some measure of popularity and consciousness among the sporting public.

"The hope of all the riders is that now, the sport of equestrian would be recognized in the country because for so many years, no one really knows about it," said Leviste.

Added Mikee: "Iyung nauna they put in the same amount of time and effort into the contributions that they made. I’m happy but this is just my own contribution to the country’s efforts. "