Filipina rower Joanie Delgaco. POC-PSC Media/File

MANILA -- Filipina rower Joanie Delgaco is overjoyed after punching a ticket to the Paris Olympics. 

Delgaco finished 4th in the 2000m rowing Olympic qualifiers in Korea, which qualified her for the Olympics—the first time a female Filipino rower has done so. 

Delgaco still cannot believe what she has accomplished given that her competitors have always beaten her in the past and she could never get close. 

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“They were always faster than me, and in all past competitions I can never seem to better my time. This is unbelievable,” she said. 

Delgaco is a Southeast Asian Games gold medalist in 2019 and a silver medalist in 2022 in rowing. In the last Asian Games, she finished in fifth place in the 2000m. She started as a volleyball player in her province in Bicol and was later recruited by a coach to try out rowing. 

Initially, she knew nothing about the sport, but learned the fundamentals and progressed.

“My volleyball coach was assistant coach for the rowing team and asked me if I wanted to try rowing because they needed a taller player. And so I said, ‘Why not?’” she said. 

Delgaco said in the last 500m of the race in Korea, her arms and legs were burning. Her back was aching, and she was in much pain, but she pushed through.

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“My mind was already thinking all kinds of things. I almost had nothing left, but I was thinking of all the sacrifices and all the hard work I’ve put it and I said I needed to go and push,” she said. 

Delgaco said her one month training in China helped elevate her skills, and the weather conditions there also helped her.

“It was very cold in China when we were training so it helped simulate the same conditions here in Korea. My resistance really improved so it was really a big advantage for us to train there,” she explained. 

Delgaco's father is a painter in Bicol, while her mom is a housewife. They were all very emotional about her historic feat.

“I talked to them earlier, they were all crying,” she said. 

Delgaco herself was very emotional as she rode back to the docks after the race, hugging her teammates and thanking everybody that helped her make this possible. 

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Philippine Rowing Association President Patrick Gregorio is extremely proud of what Delgaco has achieved. Their federation will now be represented in back-to-back Olympics, after Cris Nievarez competed in Tokyo in 2021.

Gregorio hoped for more support for rowing, a sport which he believes Filipinos can excel in. 

“As President of PRA, I know we can excel in rowing. We hope to get more sponsors. It is not an expensive sport. Rowing is a beautiful sport,” Gregorio said.

Delgaco is excited to be going to Paris to be around world-class athletes, and is also looking forward to the training at the POC-provided training center in Metz, France one month prior to the games. 

She thanked everyone from the POC, PSC, Philippine Rowing Association, all the coaches and teammates for all of their support, and promised to do her best to get herself in even better shape before the Olympics.

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