Fil-Am skater bags bronze in Winter Olympics

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino-American bagged the bronze medal in the Short Track Speed Skating category of the 2010 Winter Olympics currently being held in Vancouver, Canada.

The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that J.R. Celski, a Filipino-Polish speed skater, represented the United States.

Raised in Washington, Celski started inline skating at age three and transferred to short track speed skating in 2002.

He battled back from an injury he sustained five months ago to finish third at the competition with a time of 2:12.460 in the men’s 1500 meters.

Celski was unable to compete in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy because he missed the minimum age requirement by 17 days.

He had previously won two gold medals at the world championships and had already qualified for three Olympic events.

In a related development, Amanda Evora, a Filipino-American, together with partner Mark Ladwig, competed in the figure skating pair’s competition. They did not win a medal but came up with personal bests in their first ever Olympic games.

The 25-year-old Filipina, who trains in Florida, and Ladwig posted a personal best score during the competition. The tandem’s score of 114.06 points, based on difficulty of elements and grades of execution, was their best of the season by more than 15 points. Combined with their personal best in the short program Sunday, their total score of 171.92 points put them in 10th place.

Evora is considered to be the first person of full Filipino ancestry to represent the US in a Winter Olympic event. Her father Vic was born in Calapan, Mindoro while her mother Mary Anne was born in Ilagan, Isabela.

Evora began skating at age 6 and said her dream has always been to make it to the Olympics.