EJ Obiena dealt with the issue as he has done with any issue in the past.
Case closed.
World number two Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena can move on and focus on training for the 2024 Paris Olympics after getting an apology from the woman who accused him of doping.
Anais Lavillenie, the wife of Olympic pole vault gold medalist Renaud Lavillenie stirred controversy earlier this month when she made a comment on Facebook that Obiena takes performance-enchancing substances.
"I received today the attached apology letter from Anais Lavillenie. I accept this. She admits she was wrong and she admits what she did was wrong," Obiena wrote on Instagram, along with the letter.
"This fact, alongside all other facts makes it clear. I am a 100% CLEAN ATHLETE," he emphasized.
Lavillenie made the accusation after the pride of Tondo won the gold medal in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China and set a new tournament record in the process.
The 27-year-old Obiena dealt with the matter just like how he did with controversies in the past, such as a particularly harrowing ordeal against former officials of the Philippine track and field federation.
He made frank posts on social media and showed several receipts, such as his 34 doping tests, which he all passed, along with a polygraph test to prove his case.
He then asked for an admission of wrongdoing from Lavillenie or else he would sue. She obliged and sent him a letter.
"I would like to offer publicly my sincere apologies for writing untruthful words on Vaulter Magazine's Facebook post about you and your coach Vitaly Petrov," Lavillenie began.
"I made a stupid amalgam that I should never have done and written, I admit, and that's why I deleted the comment after the fact but the damage was done. I am sincerely sorry," she added. "I am aware that I have disrespected you and your coach and I deeply regret my act."
And EJ being EJ declared this was enough.
"I have no desire to disrupt my Paris Olympics preparation in pursuing a legal case," he said. "I also would like to keep the close-knit nature of the elite pole vault community and have no desire to disrupt these dynamics."
Finally, he made an appeal to his supporters.
"Maraming salamat po, but (I) also ask everyone to cease any further messaging to Anais Lavillenie. Let us all be the bigger person and move forward from this," he said.
(PM)