"It's painful. I missed the medal by one jump."

These were the words EJ Obiena following the results of the men's pole vault finals at the Olympics.

The Filipino pole vaulter missed out on a podium finish in Paris. While he successfully cleared 5.90 meters, he fell short at three attempts at 5.95 meters. He placed fourth in the finals.

"There's a lot of things that happened this year. I'm thankful that I got to the finals definitely but at the same time I'm disappointed because it wasn't far, it was literally the same height and I missed it by one attempt, one attempt on an Olympic medal," he stated in an interview with One Sports.

EJ shared the conversation he had with his coach following the results of the finals.

"It took a little bit of time to kind of reflect into it. He said that it's not the end of the world, but it did feel like it's the end of the world. I needed to take time to kind of reflect in the whole thing and everything that I've been through," he relayed.

The Pinoy athlete went on: "It's not something I expected. It was not something I was aiming for. I'm happy for everybody who got the medal, they deserve it. I'm happy for my friends but it doesn't give me a little bit of shade of less pain."

Hidilyn Diaz to Pinoy athletes at 2024 Olympics: ‘Nasa inyo ang aking suporta at panalangin’

On his message for the Filipino fans, turning emotional, EJ said: "I apologize. I promised that I was going to go back after Tokyo and do better. I did but it wasn't really, I would say it didn't change in my book. I came up short, so I am really sorry. I apologize for it. We'll see how it goes."

EJ said that his next priority will be his physical health.

"I think right now my first step is really to make sure that I am physically okay. I’m on pain meds. I’m into a hell of a lot of inflammatory [medicines]," he said.

The Filipino athlete said that he will also discuss with his coach what's next for him as a pole vaulter.  

"We’ll see. I talk to my team. I’ll talk to Vitaly [Petrov]. And of course, I’ll reflect on myself on what I’m gonna do in the next few weeks. The season’s not yet over. I’ll still have points to defend if I feel like I should or I could [compete]. We’ll see. We’ll take it one day at a time," he stated.