(POC Media Pool)
MANILA – Naomi Marjorie Cesar secured the Philippines’ first medal at the Dakar Youth Olympic Games after claiming silver in the women’s 800-meter event at the Complexe Iba Mar Diop Stadium in Senegal early Tuesday (Philippine time).
The 17-year-old Filipino runner clocked 2 minutes and 9.34 seconds to finish second behind Ethiopia’s Netsanet Selemon, who captured gold in 2:04.43.
Morocco’s Khadija Elmostaqim took bronze with a time of 2:10.05.
Despite finishing about three seconds slower than her personal best, Cesar expressed pride in her performance.
“I worked so hard for this. I just told myself that when I start running, no one can catch me and I can catch whoever I set my eyes on. I just trusted in myself,” Cesar said in a news release.
“It still doesn’t feel real. When I crossed the line, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just medaled at the Youth Olympics!’ It’s just so unreal, but I’m so happy and so proud of myself.”
Cesar also credited two-time Olympic champion and International Olympic Committee Global Ambassador Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya for encouraging her hours before the race.
“He told me to go out there, compete, have fun, be proud of myself and remember how far I’ve come,” she said.
Her silver medal marked the Philippines’ second officially credited medal in Youth Olympic Games history, following surfer Christian Tio’s silver-medal finish at the 2018 Buenos Aires edition.
The mixed international team gold won by archer Luis Gabriel Moreno alongside China’s Li Jiaman in 2018 was not included in the Philippines’ official medal tally.
Cesar previously won gold at the Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok in December 2025, when she was just 16 years old.
She also captured silver at the Portland Track Festival in Oregon, United States, last June, clocking 2:06.24 to break the Philippine women’s 800m record of 2:06.75 set by Filipino-American Jessica Barnard at the same competition in 2016.
Meanwhile, fellow Filipino athlete Pi Durden Forward Wangkay was scheduled to compete in the men’s 200m event at 5 p.m. Tuesday (Philippine time).
