Hail Cesar! 800m bet wins silver

DAKAR – Naomi Marjorie Cesar saved her best for last and with an enormous burst of speed in the homestretch snatched the women’s 800 meters silver behind an Ethiopian roadrunner in the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

“I worked so hard for this so I told myself I’m not going to come home in fourth place,” said Cesar after one of the day’s athletics finals witnessed by a jampacked crowd at the Complexe Iba Mar Diop Stadium here.

Cesar’s silver was only the country’s second credited medal in the YOG after Christian Tio’s in men’s IKA twin tip racing in kiteboarding in Buenos Aires in 2018. Luis Gabriel Moreno’s mixed national Olympic Committee gold medal with China’s Li Jiaman in archery also in 2018 didn’t officially count in the tally.

“Big congratulations Naomi,” Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick Gregorio said from Manila. “Well done team Philippines!”

Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Terry Capistrano also hailed Naomi for her accomplishment.

Cesar actually found herself looking at the backs of four runners for more than two and a half laps and had to summon all the strength from her 17-year-old legs in the last 150 meters to fulfill expectations after a string of successes the past two years.

Cesar crossed the finish in 2:09.34, some three seconds off her personal best.