The discus throw record of Josephine De La Viña has stood for 54 years, without a doubt, the most enduring record in Philippine sports history. It is for this reason that “Big Jo” is regarded as the best thrower that the country has ever produced, and at her peak, ranked 13th best discus thrower in the Olympics. She was born on 20 April 1946, the eldest child of American-Mexican Norman and Carolina de La Viña of New Lucena (now, Sta. Barbara) Cebu.
De La Viña recalls that hers was not an athletic family. Her father used to be a professional bowler, and that was it. For some reason, she became attracted to softball, her first sport, which she played as a student of Labangon Elementary School. But her affair with the Grecian discus began when she enrolled at the Cebu Institute of Technology High School that was renowned for producing the most successful women athletes of the Philippines—the likes of Asia’s track queen Inocencia Solis, hurdler-sprinter Francisca Sañopal, javelin thrower Vivencia Subido, and broad jumper Visitacion Badana. From throwing balls, Josephine discovered her natural flair in the throwing events of discus, javelin and shot put. She caught the eye of Dean Amancio Alcordo and Vicente Tigas, who put her on a scholarship and began training her right away.
The hefty teen, who would grow to an intimidating height
of 6 feet, with a weight of 180 lbs, earned
a Bronze at her first ever international competition–the 1st Asian Track and
Field Championship in Tokyo–with a heave of 37.39 meters. At the 1963 National
Open Track and Field competitions at the Rizal Stadium. She set the audience
gasping with an incredible heave of 41. 987 m (137 ft. 9 inches) in the women’s
discus throw.
At age 18, she was named to the National Olympic team, where she put on a show by improving her throw to 42.27 meters at the Tokyo Games in 1964, good enough for 18th place. De La Viña got even better when she joined the 1965 National Open Championships in Manila, registering a remarkable 158 feet, 9 inches (48.387 m.), topping the Asian mark of Japanese Chizoko Tanaka (150 feet, 7 inches, or 45.89 m.)
The next year, De La Viña was the proud flag bearer at
the 5th Asian Games in Bangkok (1966) . Competing against favored Japanese amazons,
“Big Jo” held her own and threw the discus to an Asian record-shattering 47.58
meters (156 ft. 1 ¼ inches)—which was not even her best throw–to give the
Philippines its first Gold. She had been averaging 162 feet in practices, which
would have been enough to place her among the top 6 in the world Olympics.
The civil engineering student would go on to participate in two more Olympic quests in Mexico (1968), where she would improve her ranking to 15th of the world’s best. De La Viña was also entered in the Shot Put event, but did not start, opting to focus on her pet event, the Discus.
She went into deep training in the U.S. in between the Olympic years under coach Bob Lawson, and it was there that Big Jo set a personal best and a new Philippine record that would—to this day—remain unsurpassed. At the 1971 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships that took place on 10 July at the Memorial Stadium on the campus of Bakersfield College in Bakersfield, California, De La Viña threw the discus to an astounding 54.71 meters (179 feet, 5 inches) defeating USA’s Carol Jean Moseke L. Frost, the 1967 Pan American Games gold medalist, and 1968 Olympian.
No other Filipina thrower has come near to this record;
in fact, the second-best throw also belongs to De La Viña at 53.92 meters,
achieved during the qualifying rounds of the Munich Olympics. She almost
qualified for the finals, landing in 13th place, but only 12
athletes moved forward to contest the medals.
To date, after 54 years, De La Viña is the only Filipina to reach--and exceed--the 50 meter mark in the Discus Throw event. For perspective, Dorie Cortejo’s silver medal heave of 45.26 m. at the 1989 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games is over 9 meters behind De La Viña’s best. “Big Jo” passed away on 4 November 2011in Iloilo, leaving behind an unbroken record that is expected to endure for many more years, earning her a special place in the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
SOURCES:
The Philippine Athlete, P.A.A.F. Official Publication,
1966
“Josephine de la Viña”, olympedia, https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/74514
Quintana, Buddy. “A Most Charming Champion”, The Sunday
Times Magazine, 1967
“Josephine de la Viña, Aiming for a Medal”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 13 Oct. 1968 (Cover)
