After Asiad, Margie Didal pursues Olympic dream

JAKARTA – There’s no stopping skateboarder Margie Didal from chasing a bigger dream after her historic Asian Games golden performance.

Foremost is to acquire a passport for her parents so that they could join her once in a while as she pursues a bigger aspiration now – the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

She knows her Olympic participation would entail a lot of tests and sacrifices as she would need to go through a series of qualifying events.

And though she stands to receive a total of P6 million as incentives from the government and private benefactors for her feat, she hopes financial support would come with the meager earnings of her parents in Lahug, Cebu.

She said she would put into good use the package of incentive she’s to receive. For one, she plans to put up a small sari-sari store business for her mom.

A virtual unknown before the 2018 Asian Games, Didal’s name has now become a byword along with that of fellow Jakarta Palembang gold medalists Hidilyn Diaz, Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan and LJ Go.

And she would virtually become the face of the nation as flag bearer during the march-past in the closing ceremonies Sunday. Chef de mission Richard Gomez announced yesterday they have bestowed the honor to Didal.

Upon her return to Cebu, Didal is expected to head straight to the Lahug skate park to start her Olympic dream with the qualifiers set to begin in January.

“I want to earn qualifying points for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games,” said Didal.

Just like most sports in the Olympics, athletes need to earn ranking or qualifying points to be eligible to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Games.

In the case of skateboarding, which will be making its debut as a medal sport in the quadrennial global sports showcase, it will take a series of Olympic qualifiers to determine the 80 participants in the discipline: 20 each in the men and women’s park and street events.

As the Olympic host, Japan is guaranteed one slot in each of the four events while the top three finishers in the world skateboard championships immediately before the Olympics will earn tickets to Tokyo. The remaining 16 slots will be based on the Olympic skateboarding world rankings by June 2020, with a country allowed to field as many as three eligible skateboarders in each of the four events.

Didal and the other Olympic skateboarding hopefuls from all over the world will have their first crack at earning qualifying points in the Street League Skateboarding world championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in January.

“While there will also be Olympic qualifiers in Asia, we are lining up Margie to compete in Rio so she can earn a maximum of ranking points,” said Skateboard Association of the Philippines, Inc. president Monty Mendigoria of their plans for the outstanding Cebuana skateboarder.

Didal herself disclosed that she would be competing before the end of the year at an all-woman speed skate event in San Diego, California.