Joanie Delgaco wins from volleyball to rowing jump

Joanie Delgaco, a former setter for the Camarines Sur volleyball team in Palarong Pambansa, finds her true calling in rowing and rows until the Olympic Games in Paris.

Joanie Delgaco spent most of her teenage years yearning for a volleyball outing.

At 5 feet 5 inches, Delgaco wasn’t exactly tall enough for the sport at 17. But she stood out as a setter for Camarines Sur in the Palarong Pambansa, attracting volleyball scouts, including one, she said, from the NCAA’s University of Perpetual Help.

Despite the interest in volleyball, Delgaco, who eventually became the first Filipino rower to qualify for the Olympics in the country’s 100-year history, felt that her chances of shining in volleyball were slim.

“Back then, I didn’t see myself excelling in volleyball (in the long run),” Delgaco said in Filipino.

From the ages of 11 to 17, Delgaco had a volleyball career in mind, even idolizing former UAAP star Alyssa Valdez. But eventually, the Iriga native gave herself a reality check.

She felt the need to try something new. When the opportunity arose to try and train for a different sport in Manila, a teenage Delgaco took the plunge.

Convinced by her rowing coach, Delgaco threw herself into her new sport, relying on her physical qualities and innate strength, which her mentors considered her greatest asset.

“He actually talked to me and my parents. I said, ‘Okay, if I can row well, this might be something for me,’” she said.

Delgaco started out with no knowledge of the sport and traveled to Manila for the first time in her life. She didn’t even have a travel bag with her, but instead used a cardboard box to pack her clothes and moved to the city.

She slowly mastered the basics of rowing and prepared for the 2,000-meter race at Olympic level.

Rowing techniques include backward sculling, which requires leg and arm strength to pull the paddle backwards – a stark contrast to the dragon boat, which propels the boat forward.

Delgaco was not only a master at orchestrating plays for her volleyball team, but was also an expert at captaining her race boat, the term used for competitive rowing boats.

“When I started rowing, I won a medal in less than a year,” Delgaco said. “That’s when I felt like this was the place where I would excel. And then, every year after that, the blessings just kept coming.”

Her biggest blessing came in 2024. Delgaco booked a ticket to the Paris Olympics after finishing fourth in the women’s single sculls at the World Rowing Asian and Oceanian Qualification Regatta in Chungju, South Korea, on April 21.

The achievement made her only the fourth rower – and only the first woman – in Philippine history to advance to the Olympic Games, after Edgardo Maerina (1988 Seoul Games), Benjamin Tolentino Jr. (2000 Sydney Games) and Cris Nievarez (2022 Tokyo Games).

“Isang malaking karangalan on makapasok salo in sa sport namemin in hindi language masyado alam “It is a great honor to make it to the Olympics, especially in a sport that many may not be familiar with,” Delgaco said.

However, it took the 26-year-old three attempts to do it, indicating that she had suffered defeat in her two previous Olympic attempts.

In 2016, when she was only 18 years old, Delgaco lost her chance for an Olympic ticket. In 2021, she came up short again, finishing just one second short of qualification.

Her ups and downs in the sport included winning gold at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila and dropping out of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China last year.

But no matter how her campaigns end, Delgaco always makes sure she represents the country well, especially now that she is on the biggest stage in the sport.

“A long time ago my track and field team participated in the Olympic Games (It’s rare to be a part of this),” Delgaco said. – Rappler.com