By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
EJ Obiena is once again under fire after accusations of doping were thrown at him by Anais Lavillenie, the wife of former Olympic gold medalist Renaud Lavillenie from France.
The Filipino pole vaulting superstar just posted a screenshot taken from a comment section on the Vaulter Magazine-Vaulter Club Inc. Facebook page yesterday.
“I want to remain classy and dignified on this subject. All I will say is I am disappointed, angry and feel wronged by these statements,” posted Obiena as a caption on his official Facebook account.
Lavillenie was seen replying to a comment made by Lynn Lazar and accused Obiena of doping like his teammate Thiago Braz.
“Obiena doped and it’ll fall like Braz. Same coach, same plan, same objective!” Lavillenie replied to Lazar’s comment.
A follow-up comment made by Ronald McGowan then asked if she thinks Obiena is taking Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), but Lavillenie didn’t reply as of now.
Vaulter Magazine shared an article from the Manila Times after Obiena said that he is eyeing to defeat Armand Duplantis, the current world no. pole vaulter in the Paris Olympics.
This then drew attention from all the followers of the page including Lavillenie who threw such accusations at the Filipino athlete.
Obiena, who is coming off a gold medal finish during the 2023 Asian Games, is recently on a roll and is having one of his best seasons as a professional pole vaulter.
A month ago, the former Tokyo Olympic qualifier booked a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics after making the cut in the World Athletics tournament.
“I will let the story evolve while my team explores the many angles including legal. I guess this is part of the price you pay when you win,” added Obiena.
