TOKYO: A few days before the biggest fight of his life as a pole vaulter, Ernest John Obiena feels relaxed, with a lasersharp focus that may very well decide his destiny in the Olympic Games here.

Momentarily staying at Conrad Tokyo before moving to the Olympic Village in a couple of days, Obiena revealed his state of mind to Philippine reporters following a long 13-hour flight from Italy, where he was based for the past 18 months.

“I’m good. I feel not so excited about it (Olympics), all the hype and anything. Well, maybe, not yet. And I guess that’s a good thing. So I have training today, actually. I might do it inside the hotel,” said the 25-year-old Obiena, adding that Sunday is reserved for rest before making his last jump session on Monday.

Sporting excellence runs in the Obiena family. His father Emerson, a silver medalist in the Southeast Asian Games, used to hold the Philippine pole vault record while his mother Jeanette was a hurdler during her collegiate days. Sister Emily is also a pole vaulter.

And so it was just natural for him to dream of an Olympic gold.

“That was definitely a dream, but I don’t know if I could achieve it or not. I never really thought that I was in the position of vying for a medal. Realistically speaking, I actually can. I really didn’t think of this. A week ago, my coach said to me, ‘No bullshit, EJ. You have to stay focused; we have to do something special. Don’t do something foolish,’” said EJ with a laugh.

After meeting Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergey Bubka in 2014, EJ was able to learn of an opportunity to train in Italy under the former’s legendary coach Vitaly Petrov — a decision that changed his life forever.

From a mere 5.01-meter record, which he accomplished at the Patafa weekly relays in July 2014, Obiena has consistently been breaching the 5.85-meter mark for the past international tournaments in Europe, catapulting him to No. 6 in the World IAAF rankings.

“My coach started in 2014. He’s the guy who made me jump where I am jumping now. He’s the guy who was with me through it all. When I was injured with my ACL, he was not physically there; he called me, and he was really devastated by what happened. I believe I won’t be where I am without him. I am grateful that he saw something in me, and he decided that

‘I like this guy.’ I’m just really happy and grateful today. I guess I wouldn’t be able to repay them unless I get something big here,” said EJ, who also has been training with Rio Olympics champion Thiago Braz of Brazil, another protégé of Petrov.