Filipino Olympian figure skater Michael Martinez pauses to take stock

Text and photo by Michael Angelo S. Murillo
SKATING for much of his young life, Filipino Olympian figure skater Michael Martinez has deemed it fit to take a break and try out other things beyond the sport.
In the country currently, the California-based Martinez said that he has hit the pause button on his skating career for now but was quick to say that he is not yet retiring from the sport.
The last time people saw Mr. Martinez, 21, in action was in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea in February where he failed to advance from the free skate round, finishing 28th overall from a field of 30, four rungs outside of the top 24 who advanced to the free skating program.
Despite failing to make the cut, Mr. Martinez said he was still proud of the showing he had considering the circumstances for him leading up to the 2018 Winter Olympics.
“The 2018 Olympics was difficult because I never expected to compete in it since I did not qualify. So I spent time attending to other things like finding a job to earn a living. So for five months I did not skate or trained then suddenly the federation and the Philippine Olympic Committee contacted me and told me that I will be competing in the Olympics after all. So with practically no idea how I would do it I packed my bags and got my skates and quit my job and went back to the ice and trained for two weeks for the Olympics,” said Mr. Martinez, who also competed in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in a media roundtable on Wednesday at the Olivia & Co. restaurant at Uptown Mall in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.
“I think I did well considering the circumstances but nonetheless it was a difficult performance. Just the same I’m proud of what I was able to do,” he added.
After the Pyeongchang Games, Mr. Martinez said he has been on a break to take stock of things and rest his body following a rigid routine of training and competing for more than a decade.
“Following the Olympics, I came back here and then went back to the States. From then on I really took a break. I did not train, did not do much blogging and all those stuff. I have been skating almost nonstop since I was eight years old, 2005, training and competing. So I felt I needed a break,” Mr. Martinez said.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
Back in the Philippines just this week, the Olympian is focusing on exploring the opportunities he has here, citing brand endorsing and modelling as some of the things he is open to doing.
“So right now my focus here in the Philippines is to explore other opportunities, maybe getting endorsements, being a social media influencer, perhaps,” he said.
He did not say for how long he would be on a break, mentioning that other top figure skaters had also at one point in their careers took a back step, but nonetheless expressed excitement over the country’s hosting of the Southeast Asian Games in 2019 and the possibility of competing in there.
Mr. Martinez competed in the 2017 SEA Games Malaysia and brought home a silver.
The Muntinlupa native Martinez went to encourage more people to pick up the sport of figure skating, believing it is something that Filipinos can excel in, notwithstanding that the Philippines is a tropical country.
“Filipinos are very artistic people and through figure skating they can express that,” he said.
But he said that if one goes into it, they must not do it half-hearted.
“Don’t treat figure skating as something that since other people are doing it, I have to do it. If you want to do this and see your future in this sport, you have to give your all. Do the needed sacrifices. But if you are not willing to do the sacrifices then do not do it because you will not grow in the sport,” Mr. Martinez said, adding that support for the sport from stakeholders and willing sponsors would go a long way in further cultivating figure skating in the country.
Mr. Martinez will be in the country until Oct. 17.