Filipino athletes John Elmerson Fabriga, 21, and John David Pahoyo, 17, failed to impress the judges during the three-meter springboard diving finals at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) Wednesday in Singapore. Instead of executing a perfect dive, the two landed on their backs and received zero points from the judges, according to Inquirer.
Fabriga was first to dive, and while he looked focused, he appeared to have slipped on the board, falling in the water on his back. Pahoyo was next and did almost the same thing as his teammate, with his feet in the water first.
A video of their dive was posted on SGAG, a Facebook page operated by users from Singapore. As of press time, the video has generated more than 1.7 million views. However, some comments were aimed at mocking the divers, according to Strait Times.
Despite this, Fabriga and Pahoyo remained unruffled.
"I even laughed at myself after I did this dive," said Pahoyo in a series of posts on Facebook. "I am still proud because not all of us has the privilege to represent our own country to such a big sporting event like this. And by the way can I ask all of you if you can still smile after getting embarrassed in front of thousands of people?"
Pahoyo's response has drawn plenty of praise from the Filipinos and abroad, according to Inquirer in a follow-up. Earlier in the competition, the pair actually did a perfect dive at a different event - the men's 3-meter Synchronised Springboard, according to Choose Philippines.
Meanwhile, Richie Garcia, the chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission, said that he would look into what really happened with the two divers. "I saw these boys train at Rizal Memorial and they are good," he said. "I will give the opportunity for the Philippine Swimming Inc. president to explain because he fought for these divers to come here and compete."
The 3-meter springboard diving event was won by Malaysia (gold), followed by Indonesia (silver) and Singapore (bronze). The SEA Games take place every two years.
