Two more Olympians of Filipino descent

MANILA, Philippines - The last two of six Rio Olympians of Filipino descent not competing for the Philippines are foil fencer Lee Kiefer and sprinter Regine Tugade. The 5-4, 108-pound Kiefer represented the US in women’s individual foil and was eliminated by China’s Liu Yongshi, 15-9, in the round-of-16 at the Carioca Arena 3 last Wednesday. Kiefer, 22, beat Lebanon’s Mona Shaito, 15-3, in the round-of-32 before making her exit.

Tugade, 18, will compete for Guam in the 100-meter run at Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange tonight (Manila time). The 5-5, 110-pound fireball is one of nine athletes with universality tickets in the event. The nine countries that were awarded universality slots are Guam, Tuvalu, Fiji, Guinea, Kiribati, Laos, Sierra Leone, Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Kiefer’s mother Teresa Bacani, a Filipina from Davao, migrated to the US when she was a child. Her mother is a psychiatrist married to neurosurgeon Dr. Steve Kiefer who was captain of the fencing varsity at Duke University. Older sister Alexandra was a former NCAA fencing champion at Harvard and is now a doctor. Younger brother Axel is on the men’s foil team at Notre Dame where she is also enrolled as a senior pre-med major on an athletic scholarship. Kiefer was born in Cleveland and lives with her family in Lexington, Kentucky.

Kiefer made her Olympic debut in 2012 and finished fifth in her event. She took a year off from school to focus on training for Rio. It’s not likely Kiefer will return for a third Olympics as she plans to focus on a career in medicine.

To prepare for Rio, Kiefer trained up to three hours a day, five days a week and did three cross-fit strength and agility sessions each week. It wasn’t such a lonely journey, however, as she often trained with her half-Chinese boyfriend Gerek Meinhardt, also a Rio Olympic fencer, at his home club in San Francisco. She once referred to fencers as underdogs among Olympic athletes because “everyone thinks we’re nerds but if it means that we’re smart, then that’s fine.”

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Because the three Kiefer kids took to fencing at an early age, their father turned the family dining room into a makeshift arena and taught them the basics. “She’s a real competitor,” said her father, quoted by writer Audrey Celo Yap. “She’s always been like that. She’s more so perhaps than anyone in the family.”

Kiefer, the world No. 3 foil fencer and the US No. 1, has been a fixture on the national team since she was 15. “I’m not the only person who says this but I don’t have many friends,” she told Yap. “I’m so lucky I have the whole fencing team and people whom I’ve built relationships with but besides that, I don’t have close friends outside of the fencing team. Football’s really big at Notre Dame. I haven’t been able to go to all the games because of tournament schedules and trying to catch up on school. I feel like a lot of people miss out on that part.”

It was recently reported that Kiefer’s last visit to Davao was when she was six years old. The three-time NCAA champion was in Rio with her personal mentor Amgad Khazbak, a former Egyptian and US national coach.

Tugade, a full-blooded Filipina, was born and raised in Guam. Her Filipino parents migrated to Guam. She is a freshman at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. “Ever since I first started track and field (at 12), since I found out I was good at it, I’ve wanted to go to the Olympics,” she told Capital Gazette sportswriter Bill Wagner. “To have it become a reality as soon as now is amazing. To have such a great senior season (in high school) and to get the chance to compete internationally, to get an opportunity to attend the Naval Academy then to be selected to compete in the Olympics, it’s just incredible.”

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The qualifying time for women in the 100-meter run is 11.32 seconds. Tugade’s best effort was 12.26 but she made it to Rio through an IOC exception rule that allows small countries to send athletes under special circumstances even without qualifying. She’s not expected to survive her heat but for Tugade and other athletes similarly situated, just to compete in the Olympics is a feat in itself.

Wagner wrote, “In the Olympics, Tugade said she’ll be representing Guam first, her Filipino heritage next and then competing in spirit for her new country, the US and her new school, the Naval Academy.” Tugade said it’s an honor to have ties with so many countries and cultures and in some way, represent each one. “It’s not something I take lightly.”

A track legend in Guam high school, Tugade ripped records in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and in the long and triple jumps. She decided to enrol at Annapolis for both athletic and academic reasons. “I really wanted to continue track in a good program and at the Division I level and attend a school with a good academic program,” she said. “The honor and responsibility that came with being in the Navy also appealed to me.”

Navy track coach Carla Criste said Tugade is a perfect fit with the varsity. “She holds numerous running records in Guam and she has connections to several different countries and has competed internationally for her home country Guam,” said Criste. “As a track athlete, the fact that she excels in so many events is a drawing factor because in college, she can compete in many different individual and relay events as well as in the field events. What an opportunity this is for a young lady age 18 and just coming out of high school to be able to travel the world. In another four years, she will probably be representing Guam in another Olympics.”

It’s possible that there are more Rio Olympians of Filipino descent not competing for the Philippines. If you know of any more, please contact us at [email protected]. This concludes the three-part series on six Rio Olympians of Filipino descent, namely, Kiefer, Tugade, Guam’s Josh Ilustre of athletics, Canada’s Crispin Duenas of archery, the US’ Paige McPherson of taekwondo and the US’ Paula Lynn Obanana.