A malicious social media comment accusing World No. 2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena of taking performance-enhancing-drugs has been taken down by 2012 Olympic gold medalist Renaud Lavillenie’s wife Anais Poumarat after a barrage of negative feedback and a threat of a libel suit put her in place. Poumarat owned up to her unwarranted rant and has apologized in a personal letter to Obiena, released publicly.
Poumarat, 34, was once ranked No. 150 in the world, her highest and hasn’t competed since jumping 4.01 in June 2021. Her top career leap was 4.20. Her husband is now 37 and has slipped in the world ladder from a high of No. 2 to No. 42. As a Frenchman, Lavillenie is presumably hoping to qualify for the Paris Olympics but even as he has cleared 6.00 in 19 competitions, has found it difficult to make the qualifying mark of 5.82 this year. His best elevation this season was 5.61.
Obiena’s benefactor Jim Lafferty, a Dubai-based American CEO, was shocked and pained by Poumarat’s accusation. Obiena is an advocate of random anti-drug testing and according to Lafferty, is tested even three or four times a week. The Filipino has never tested positive, making Poumarat’s rant clearly below the belt and without basis. Was it a racist slur? Was it prompted by Lavillenie’s failure to make the Olympic cut and the realization that his career is coming to an end?
When Poumarat sent a letter of apology, Obiena said the case is now closed and “let’s all be the bigger person and move forward from this.” He asked fans “to cease any further messaging to Anais and Renaud.” Obiena thanked POC president Mayor Bambol Tolentino, Sen. Bong Go, PATAFA president Terry Capistrano, his Ukrainian coach Vitaliy Petrov, Lafferty, the Gana, Atienza, Avisado Law Office, media and fans for supporting him in light of Poumarat’s accusation.
Poumarat, in a public statement, admitted using “untruthful words” and making a “stupid amalgam that I should never have done and written.” In addressing Obiena, she said, “I am sincerely sorry (and) I am aware that I have disrespected you and your coach and I deeply regret my act … thank you for understanding my apologies for my unacceptable behavior.”
Former POC legal counsel and former Philippine Fencing Association president Atty. Toto Africa said with the unfair accusation on Obiena and the recent positive tests on Justin Brownlee and cyclist Ariana Evangelista, perhaps it’s time for the country’s sports leaders to reaffirm their commitment to the purity in sports. “It will be a message to citizens, particularly the youth – the hope of the fatherland, on what example to follow, what should be their own philosophy in life,” he said. “We are being called on not only to do the right thing but more, to do it right. I had expected there would be statements reaffirming our commitment to the sport’s non-doping policy, a statement of cooperation with whatever investigations would be made and an acceptance of whatever the final decision or sanctions would be. It’s an opportunity for us to re-state our position vis-à-vis doping.”
Regarding recent positive testing, Africa said officials should have asked what medicine athletes took before the Asian Games. “What I can’t understand is how Brownlee got to play without team officials asking exclusion for the prescribed drug he was taking,” he said. “A list of medicine should have been submitted then officials should have examined the list of prohibited drugs so that if any medicine was among the banned substances, an exemption could be sought.”