Kirstie Elaine Lu Alora: Kicking high at the Rio Olympics

Patience and perseverance make up the DNA of a champion.

These are the traits that run in the blood of Kirstie Elaine Lu Alora, 26. In her 5’8”-frame can be found the fortitude of an athlete who will stake her all to bring honor to her family and country.

When she competes for taekwondo at the Rio Olympics on Aug. 20, Elaine brings with her the rallying, collective hope of a nation that has never won a gold medal in any Olympic competitive sport. (The Rio Olympics will open on Aug. 5). Perhaps, with Elaine’s grit in the mat and her mastery of turning side and turning long kicks, the gods of Olympus will smile upon her and she will win the first gold for the country.

“I have been training three times a day at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. I am ready—physically, mentally, emotionally,” she says, adding that she will play in the plus-67-kg. category. “I need to maintain 70 kg. to 71 kg. so I can comfortably move when I compete.” 

Her ticket to Rio, she says, is also her gift to her family, especially to her eldest sister Eunice, 28, who first dreamt of representing the Philippines in the taekwondo game in the last Olympics. “She, however, did not qualify. I told myself, I will fulfill my sister’s dream,” Elaine continues, growing emotional when she recounts further how her sister Eunice, who will join her in Rio for moral support, became her inspiration to push herself to qualify in the Olympics. It also means a lot to her that she has the unwavering support of her youngest sister Inah, 24, a medical student, and their OFW parents Marilou and Pablito, who both work in a fish factory in Alaska.

“I pray for the best. I pray I don’t get injured when I compete. I am prepared—for my country and my family,” she says, her tone replete with resolute will.

In fact, since she was six years old, Elaine has prepared herself for the many kicks that landed in her life. “I was bullied in grade school. I lost my lunchbox and allowance to school bullies,” she says. To ward off bullies, she took up taekwondo instead of the popular basketball and volleyball in her school in Biñan, Laguna, her hometown. She became a black belter in her elementary grade, representing her school in a taekwondo competition in South Korea.

“I realized taekwondo was the sport for me when I was 10 years old,” she recalls. “At that age, I knew taekwondo was already my passion, not just an extra-curricular activity in school.” So, Elaine seriously pursued taekwondo and got her first medal in Laguna Open in 1998. In high school, she joined Palarong Pambansa in Bacolod where she was also adjudged the champion in taekwondo. She showed great potential that when she was in fourth year high school, the National Team (for taekwondo) welcomed her to the mat and since then she has become one of the team’s most formidable athletes.

At the SEA Games, Elaine hauled three golds (2005, 2011 and 2013) and two silvers (2007 and 2009). She also won a gold at the ASEAN Taekwondo Championship in Vietnam and two bronze medals at the Asian Games in 2010 and 2014.

Of the four Filipino taekwondo athletes (from a pool of 30 in the Taekwondo National Team) sent by the Philippines to the qualifying rounds held in Manila, only Elaine made it to the Rio Olympics. She beat the athletes from Nepal and Iran before she got her qualifying ticket to Rio.

“I’m just grateful that I made it to Rio,” she says.

If gratitude would secure an athlete a medal in the Olympics, Elaine would surely have a haul. “I made it to the qualifying rounds because of the support of the Philippine Sports Commission, the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippine Taekwondo Association and the National Team.” For her, to play her best at the Rio Olympics is the best way she can express them how thankful she is for their support.

“I am also grateful to my alma mater, De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, where I finished my education on a scholarship grant because I was a varsity athlete,” says Elaine who graduated in 2012 with a degree in Business Administration major in Export Management. “Benilde taught me that if I want something so badly, I have to do extraordinary things extraordinarily well.”

Is she confident she will do extraordinarily well in Rio? “My hopes are high,” she says, her tears earlier replaced by a peaceful smile.

Elaine Alora will need us to rally behind her. Her system is wired to land her flying kicks on her opponents. It’s time to storm the gates of heaven for her win.

Let the games begin.

(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. I’m also on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)