Blades of glory

Meet the 17-year-old Olympian who has triple-axeled his way into our hearts.

MANILA, Philippines - The triple axel jump is one of the hardest moves to pull off in the world of figure skating. The technique is characterized by a forward takeoff, grabbing three pirouette-like spins in less than a second of airtime, then landing like you got away with laughing in the face of physics. It is only one of the many moves you’ll find in an Olympic-level figure skating routine. It is also a move which Michael Christian Martinez, the first Southeast Asian figure skater to compete in the Winter Olympics, says describes him best.

“You have to give all your energy in one jump,” he says, and Michael, ever since he began figure skating at the tender age of eight, has been giving the sport all his energy. You can see it as soon as the blade of his skates touch the ice, and he glides through and around the rink like a knife slicing through air, and you know that each leap and spin and bend woven seamlessly together throughout his routine is the result of many years of grueling training.

Most young boys take to sports like basketball or soccer. But with figure skating, distinguished from most sports by being both an athletic discipline and an art form, Michael Martinez found himself eager to get on the ice.

It was in a shopping mall in Las Piñas where figure skating first piqued his interest. “I just saw the ice skating rink, I saw the skaters there doing jumps and spins, and I got fascinated by it.” He says figure skating helped him lessen his asthma attacks, but if the past few weeks have been any indication, it seems that Michael has overcome so much more.

Despite suffering from a sprained ankle, a twisted knee, and even a fractured hip shortly before the finals — despite being born in a country where it doesn’t even freaking snow — Michael delivered, placing 19th in the Sochi Winter Games. It’s no wonder that Perci Cendaña of the National Youth Commission calls Michael the “kampeon ng kabataang Pinoy.”

It doesn’t hurt that Michael’s got a lot going for him in the way of looks. At a meet-and-greet, a group of teenage girls held up illustration boards with drawings of him rendered in anime-form à la bishounen. One voice screamed over the din of the crowd, “Notice me senpai!!!”

As the first athlete to represent the Philippines in the Winter Olympics (at the age of 17, no less), Michael has every right to brag about his success. But upon receiving a hero’s welcome at the Mall of Asia, he looks sheepish, like he still can’t believe the amount of support he’s been given, not just from the Filipinos who stayed up late to catch his routine, but also from Manuel V. Veguillas, the president of the Skating Union, and his mother, Maria Teresa Martinez, who coached her son from 2005 until they could find a new coach in 2011.

“Skating and representing the Philippines in the Olympics is a dream come true,” he starts off. But he deflects attention from himself and announces to all the fans gathered for his return, “I may be the first to represent the Philippines in the Winter Olympics, but I’m not the first athlete to represent the country,” he says, urging everyone crowded around him to applaud for the many Filipino athletes who brought pride to their country numerous times before.

Everybody says sportsmanship means playing the game fair. Then there’s Michael, who isn’t just driven to win, who doesn’t just revel in the spirit of competition, but gives credit where credit is due and leaves a little glory for the rest of the country’s athletes.

From March 10 to 16, Michael will be in Bulgaria competing in the Junior World Championships, and is set to return to the United States to resume training. To prepare for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Michael will be trained on how to execute quadruple jumps, Salchow jumps, mazurkas, and other things that sound like they should belong on a Tekken cheat sheet. And you thought the triple axel jump was tough stuff.

But even with the challenges ahead, Michael seems confident, riding the wave of support he’s received from people all over the country, from casual viewers to hardcore sports fans. When asked about what keeps him going, he responds, “I’m doing this for my mother and I’m doing this for God,” always making it a point to thank his fans for praying for him. And we’ll keep rooting for him while he executes triple axel jump after triple axel jump like he owns the rink. And he does.