56. The Flight of Her Javelins: ERLINDA LAVANDIA (1975 to present)

There have only been a handful of successful female javelin throwers from decades in the Philippines—names like Asian Games medalists Vivencia Sabado (1954) , Marcelina Alonso (1966), and national record holder Josephine de la Viña (1971) come to mind.  But no other athlete was as stellar as the ERLINDA LAVANDIA, who dominated the field event for decades, beginning with her debut appearance at the Northern Mindanao Regional Athletic Meet, leading to her amazing medal run in 9 editions in the Southeast Asian Games, where she secured 9 podium finishes, 4 of them Gold.

So untouchable was Lavandia, that she extended her wins long after her retirement, by participating in Asian Masters and  World Masters Athletic Championships, winning more medals even beyond the age of 70. 

Her incredible story began in the small barangay of Marga, Tubod town in distant Surigao del Norte, where she was born on 9 April 1952, to parents Pedro Lavandia Sr. and Eustaquia Bacasnot. Erlinda was the eldest of 8 children ((four girls and four boys) and was destined to be the only athlete in the family.

Her early years were spent in Surigao, where she studied at Tubod Elementary School and proceeded to the Surigao Del Norte National High School.  A sporty kid, she was into everything, from volleyball to running, but it was baseball that became her first love, where she excelled as a catcher. Seeing her far-reaching throws, her first coach Lotheo Seftimo, a college PE teacher, lured her back to athletics—but this time, to the field events of javelin throw, discus throw, hammer throw and shot put.

In 1972, while in her senior year in high school, she was spotted by then Surigao del Norte Gov. Jose C. Sering, and president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA). The sports executive had seen her performances at the Northern Mindanao Meet in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental where she won the javelin Gold, along with her Palarong Pambansa triumph in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, and was duly impressed. He recruited her for the national team pool and she started her intensive training under Sering’s watchful supervision.

In 1975, the Philippines was invited to join Singapore’s “Festival of Sports”, Pesta Sukan, and it sent a basketball team and a small contingent of athletes including Lavandia. In her first international meet, she won the Gold in javelin. From then on, there was not stopping the hefty, 5’4” thrower.

But Lavandia’s test would come two years later at the very first 1977 Southeast Asian Games at the Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was the inaugural appearance of the Philippines in the multi-sports subregional meet, an off-shoot of the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games that had its final staging in 1975.  The unheralded Lavandia was chosen as one of the pioneer athletes to debut in the games, and she came through with a milestone win—winning the Gold with a throw of 45.22 m., more that 3 meters away from the Singaporean Silver medalist Chua Kim Tee, who did 41.98 m. In so doing, Lavandia established a new Games Record in Javelin Throw, a feat she would repeat in the next two SEA Games.

By 1979, Lavandia had joined the Gintong Alay project sports development and training project that would further hone her athletic skills. She not only defended her javelin title in Jakarta in 1979 with an improved 45. 78 m. throw, and in Manila in 1981, with a 46.20 m. effort, but she broke her own championship records in the process.

Her arch-rival Norsham Yoon of Malaysia would snap her golden streak at the 1983 Singapore SEA Games but Lavandia would reclaim the title in 1985 Thailand SEA Games with a personal best of 47.96 m., another games record. In her 9 years of continuous SEA Games participation,  she always medalled; her last 4 games (1987 Jakarta, 1989 Kuala Lumpur, 1991 Manila, 1993 Singapore) earned her 2 more Silvers and 2 Bronzes.

For many athletes, retirement from the playing field comes at 40. But Lavandia was not done competing yet, for in 1994, at the age 42, she began joining the Asian Masters on a regular basis, collecting a total of 12 Gold Medals by 2016---and she is not stopping. Some of her spectacular wins in the Asian Masters was in 2012, with her record-breaking victory in the javelin event for women 60-64 years old. Lavandia’s new mark was at 32.26 m., accomplished in her final throw. She smashed the old record of 27.36 m. set by Japan’s Kato Atsuko in Thailand in 2009. With that’s, she became the owner of all javelin throw records in the 40 (set in Jakarta, 1994), 45 (Okinawa, 1998), 50 (Dalian, China 2002), and 55 year-old category (Kuala Lumpur, 2010).

In the 2013 World Masters Athletic Championship, Lavandia also made news with her golden win,  hurling the javelin to a distance of  39.83 m. At the 23rd World Masters Athletics Championships in Malaga, Spain, she placed third in the women’s 65-69 javelin throw, doing 27.95 m. on her first attempt.

Her best year was in 2019 at the  Southeast Asia Athletic Championship held in Singapore in May, when the 67-year-old won 4 Golds in different throwing events: javelin, discus, shotput and hammer throw. Her winning momentum continued in 2022 at the Kuala Lumpur International Masters Athletics Championships, where brought home three medals -- 2 Golds (javelin throw and discus throw) and 1 Silver (shot put) .

Her latest feat was at the 22nd Asia Masters Athletics Championships held on November 8-12, 2024 at New Clark City stadium. Before a home crowd Lavandia, now 72, won Golds in the javelin and hammer throw,  plus a Silver in the discus.

Lavandia belongs to an elite field of rare, competitive, more mature athletes—the likes of Felicisimo Ampon, Robert Jaworksi, Elma Muros, Efren Bata Reyes, and even Manny Pacquiao—who do not consider age as a barrier. Our greatest javelin thrower however, believes also in a winning formula she calls her 3Ds -- dedication, determination and discipline, which she has been following all these years to stay in winning form.

The 73 year old legend is also grateful for the sports that has opened opportunities for her to make her dreams take flight and fulfill her role as the eldest in the family. Since the start of her sporting career, she has been doling out financial aid, helping out with family expenses, and sending her siblings to school. Most of all, she believes in giving back to the country she loves. In between competitions, Lavandia  served in the police force, rising to become a Police Chief Inspector until her retirement in 2008. "I always do my best in every competition”, she says, “ Every victory is special for me because I know that I'm doing it for my country.”

SOURCES:

Photos: Erlinda Lavandia FB Page

Athletics at the 1977 SEA Games, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1977_SEA_Games

Erlinda Lavandia Athletic Records: https://athleticspodium.com/athlete/27950/erlinda-lavandia

 “Erlinda Lavandia shares how she started playing Javelin throw”|Magandang Buhay”, ABS-CBN youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xco-dgsNPD0&t=170s

“PH javelin queen Lavandia still in top form”, by Jean Malanum, January 14, 2023,

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1192734

36. VIVENCIA SUBIDO, Champion Javelin Thrower of the '50s

VIVENCIA SUBIDO is a petite well-turned out athlete from Cebu Institute of Technology, known for its roster of nationally-ranked female athletes. At the 1954 2nd Asian Games in Manila, she reached the finals of the Women’s Javelin Throw and captured the only Bronze medal in that field event with a heave of 123 feet 2 inches. Two Japanese women were ahead of her, Akiko Kurihara (Gold, 144.5 ft. ) and Yasuko Inden (Silver, 139.63 ft.). Her team mate, Francisca Sanopal, placed 5^th (118.67 ft.), and she later shifted to the 80 m. low hurdles that allowed her to gain entry to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

In two meets in Formosa in 1953, Subido won Gold medals in Tai Chung and Kao Hsiung. Thirteen years after, in the 1966 Bangkok Asiad, Marcelina Alonso duplicated her feat by winning Bronze in the same field event.

SOURCES: 

Progress Magazine, 1955 edition

Athletics at the 1954 Asian Games,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1954_Asian_Games

26. Asia’s Amazon of Speed: MONA SULAIMAN, active 1957-1966

The greatest Filipina track athlete of the 60s decade was, without doubt, MONA SULAIMAN (b. 9 Jun. 1942/ d. 21 December 2017) came into the track scene beginning in 1957, when the stocky 15 year old ran barefooted in several races during a Cotabato fiesta and wiped out competition. Sulaiman, daughter of policeman Kudelat and Aminan Sulaiman, had actually played softball in her elementary school where her running ability was spotted by a school official. Sulaiman, who was described in write ups as “the pride of the fierce Mangulamas tribe of Cotabato”, was hustled off to regional meets in Mindanao and the Visayas, and won those too.

Doubting Thomases were quick to dismiss her wins lightly, but in the national championships of 1960, she was pitted against the renown Inocencia Solis, the reigning 1958 Asian Games gold medalist—and trounced the veteran trackster. Not even Solis’ much ballyhooed, nationally-ranked Cebu Tech team mates, could come close to Sulaiman’s clockings.

Sports critics and observers were silenced, and they soon acknowledged that the sheer  power and brawn of  Sulaiman was superior than the smooth, running style of Solis. Another undeniable edge was Sulaiman’s versatility—she also excels in the throwing events  --shotput (Personal Best 41.2 ft.) , discus ( PB 115 ft. 5 and 5/8 in.), javelin and in the multisport pentathlon.

Sulaiman was soon installed as the new queen of sprints, and her next stop was no less than the 1960 Rome Olympics. That experience was an eye-opener for the 18 year old, and the thought of competing against the world’s best must have unnerved her. Though her performance was reported as “dismal” by the local press, she did fairly well, reaching the 100 meter dash quarterfinals and finishing in 6^th place with a time of 12.4 seconds. Her heat was ruled by the great American Wilma Rudolph, who would go on to win Gold in record time. In the 200 m., Sulaiman timed in at 25.8 secs., 4^th in her heat, won by Poland’s Barbara Janiszewska, who would win Bronze in the 4x100 m. relay.

Returning home, Sulaiman worked on improving her form and technique, and her dedicated efforts rewarded in 1961 when she bannered the Philippine campaign at the Malayan Open in April. She won 4 Gold medals for the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash (a new Malayan record), 4 x 100 m. women’s relay, and the Shotput (another new record), helping propel the Philippines team to 2^nd place overall. That same year, she had also annexed a new Philippine record in Javelin throw.

Coming into the 4th Asian Games in Jakarta in August 1962, Sulaiman looked formidable with her personal best times. She lived up to expectations by ruling the two centerpiece sprint events, registering a new games record of 11.93 secs. for the Gold in the century dash, way ahead of 2 Japanese, Ikuko Yoda (Silver, 12.35 secs.) and  Takuko Inokuchi (Bronze, 12.39 secs.). It was the same story in the 200 meters as Sulaiman prevailed with 24.63 secs. followed by Japan’s Haruko Yamazaki (25.86 secs.) and Ceylon’s Nirmala Dissanayake (secs. 25.92 secs.). 

She grabbed her 3^rd Gold when she teamed up with veteran Inocencia Solis, Francisca Sanopal and Aida Molinos to an upset win over the Japanese team that registered the same games record of 48.67 secs. But Sulaiman was not finish with her medal romp as she had to rush to the field event where she was also entered in the shotput. She won the Bronze with a throw of 11.97 meters.

1962 will be remembered as the peak of Sulaiman’s sporting career. She was the first Filipina to complete a rare golden sprint double at the Asiad. With her spectacular triple victories on the track and a medal at the field events, Mona Sulaiman became the most bemedalled Filipino athlete of the delegation, winning 4 of the total 7 Golds harvested from Jakarta. She was hailed as a local heroine upon her return home and everyone predicted more success in her future.

In April 1964, in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, she was sent to the U.S. to undergo scientific training under coach Bill Bowerman of the University of Oregon. By July,  Sulaiman reported a notable improvement in her athletic prowess, She even managed to shave off .2 secs. from her 11.8 secs. record, lowering it to 11.6 secs., leading local officials to believe that she could be a potential winner of the pentathlon.

This was seconded by 2-time (1948, 1952) Olympic decathlon champion Bob Mathias, who, after sizing her up in Manila, concluded, “She can run, throw weights, and jump too. There is not one girl athlete in the world who could be as good as Mona in all these events.”

But by the time the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo unfolded, Sulaiman stuck to her pet events—100 m., 200 m. sprints, and the 4 x100 m. women’s relay. Her 2^nd Olympic stint was to  be another major disappointment. In her 100m. heat, she placed 7th and last, with a slow time of 12 seconds flat. In the 200 m., she placed 4^th in her heat, at  25.4 seconds. She anchored her team in the 4x 100 m. relay race, and finished second slowest at 48.8 secs. Thus ended Sulaiman’s Olympic campaign in Japan. 

Only 22 years old, Sulaiman continue to train, ready to redeem her poor performance by defending her titles in the 1966 Asian Games, slated in Thailand.  Sulaiman, as expected, was named as a member of the Philippine team. That year though, the organizers introduced the controversial gender testing among athletes. 

Sulaiman rejected the said test, claiming at first it was against her Muslim faith. But for the record, Sulaiman said she was suffering from flu at that time, so she decided to forego with the medical check-up though she was already in Bangkok.

Sulaiman’s refusal spawned many speculations about her real gender, which media played up back in the Philippines. Hurt and humiliated from being barred from the games, she withdrew from the sports and lost interest, thus putting an end to an illustrious athletic career that could have been longer.

MONA AT THE MOVIES, Courtesy of Video 48

She worked in the private sector and even ventured into film as a bit player. She did at least 3 action movies: Santa Fe (1973), Virgina Soliman (1974), and Interpol Malaysia 5 (1975), all with actor Jun Aristorenas. In 1990s, she was given employment by the Philippine Sports Commission as a consultant for the national athletics team. The PSC her inducted into its Hall of Fame in January 2016. Marvelous Mona Sulaiman, Asia’s first lady of speed, passed away on 21 Dec. 2017 at the East Avenue Medical Center after a lingering illness, at age 75.

SOURCES:

“First Lady of Speed”, Sunday Times Magazine, 25 March 1961, pp. 36-37

“Filipino Speedsters in Malaya”, Mirror Magazine, 26 Aug. 1961, p 26

“Asian Games Hopeful”, Sunday Times Magazine, 5 Aug. 1962

1964 Tokyo Olympics supplement, Sunday Times Magazine, p. 15

“Marvelous Mona”, Sunday Times Maazine, 19 Sep. 1964,

Official Report of the 1960 Olympics (Rome) program, LA84 Digital Collection

Official Report of the 1964 Olympics (Tokyo) program, LA84 Digital Collection

Mona Sulaiman, Asia’s fastest woman of early ’60s, dies at 75, Dec 22, 2017 12:13,

https://www.rappler.com/sports/191974-mona-sulaiman-obituary-track/

Philippines at the 1962 Asian Games, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines_at_the_1962_Asian_Games

Athletics at the 1962 Asian Games,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1962_Asian_Games

Mona Sulaiman movies: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4705025/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Movie posters of Santa Fe, Interpol Malyasia 5, courtesy of Video 48

Mona Sulaiman, Wikipedia.com