A track icon who is considered as the undisputed long jump queen of Philippine athletics is going to be the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement honor in the San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night two weeks from now at the grand ballroom of the Diamond Hotel.
Elma Muros-Posadas will be recognized with the distinctive award by the country’s oldest media organization in gratitude for the many honors she brought to the nation and helped sustain Philippine track and field’s status as one of the powers in the Asian region.
The 55-year-old track queen gets to join an elite list of personalities in the likes of Efren “Bata” Reyes, Carlos Loyzaga, Filomeno “Boy” Codinera, Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan, Ramon Fernandez, and Robert Jaworski who were among the past recipients of the award.
Presented by the Philippine Sports Commission and Cignal TV, the March 6 gala night is also backed by the Philippine Olympic Committee, Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, Milo, Smart, MVP Sports Foundation, Rain or Shine, 1Pacman Rep. Mikee Romero, Philippine Basketball Association, OKBet, and ICTSI.
Married to national coach George “Jojo” Posadas and mother to two children, Elma was a product of Project Gintong Alay and made her indelible mark in long jump, where she would reign for the longest time as the best in the country and the Southeast Asian region.
She won a total of 15 gold medals in the SEA Games that also included stints in sprints, hurdles, and later on in heptathlon.
But the native of Magdiwang, Romblon was a force to reckon in the long jump, an event she dominated in the SEA Games for a decade by winning the gold six straight times from 1989 to 1999. She won her first gold in the biennial meet in 1983 in Singapore.
Muros-Posadas also competed and won medals in the Asian Games and the Asian Athletics Championships, respectively, including a bronze in long jump during the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games.
She was also twice an Olympian, representing the country in the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, respectively.
She competed in the World Athletics Championships four times and in the IAAF World Indoor Championships five times.
A two-time PSA Athlete of the Year recipient (1993 and 1995), Muros-Posadas retired from competing in 2001 shortly after winning the heptathlon gold in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.
Muros-Posadas’ life story was the inspiration behind the 2011 award-winning movie “Thelma” starring Maja Salvador, where the athletics great also appeared in the role of a track and field coach.
