Renato Unso

The Philippines enjoyed a fabulous streak in the early 80s at SEA Games with three 400 Hurdlers in 1981 Grafillo, 1983 Unso and 1985 Arnillo claiming the 400 Hurdle crown. It was Renato Unso who at these games would set the undisputed Philippine Record of 51.26 which till this day remains untouched.

Unso was born 25th of April 1957 orphaned at the age of nine he overcame poverty. In fact, it was poverty and its many challenges that molded him to become a Sea Games gold medalist, teacher, motivational speaker and formerly as Dean of Human Kinetics of the PUP.

He won the 1978 Palarong Pambansa Tertiary 110 Hurdles in 15.5 but finished second in the 400 Hurdles to Angelito Aguilar who went on to set a meet record later on (54.6 to 55.2).

Gintong Alay Coach Tony Benson said Unso had the makings of a world-class hurdler. However, in Manila, it seemed Unso cracked under the pressure of a home crowd.

At his first SEA Games in 1981 Unso finished last in the 110 Hurdles final, he was credited with a very fast 14.5 hand-timed in the heats which may have seen him close to a medal in the final if he had the same type of run. He won the second heat of the 400 Hurdles in 53.32 beating Nyan Chong-Jong of Malaysia. In the final, he finished fourth and just 6/100th outside a medal in fourth in the 400 Hurdles with a time of 53.46. Teammate Grafilo won the race going onto set an electronic Filipino National Record at 52.19, with Chong-Jong taking Silver.(*The best mark at that time was Abdul Guiapaur hand-time from 1974 of 51.8).

Unso was given the label of ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ by news reporters. “Oh yes I remember I went under instead of over. I was a certainty that lost” he later told a reporter.

“I cannot forget that season, but my mind was never set on it then,” he said of 1981 SEA Games.

At the Palaro open division in 1982 in 15.4 as well as the 400 Hurdles in 54.4. Later that year Unso would break through to his first international win at the ASEAN Cup winning the 400 Hurdle title. He returned a different athlete at the next SEA Games.

Leading upto the SEA Games Unso clocked 52.01 at the National Championships erasing the National Record set by Jaime Grafilo.

At these games, he won heat 1 of the 110 Hurdles beating Heru Prayogo of Indonesia with the fastest qualifying time of 14.80. However in the final in a hairline finish, Prayogo took the gold 14.75 to 14.76. Unso time of 14.76, however, broke the nine-year-old National Record of Marcelo Benauro and stood until 1997.

The greatest race of his career would come in a superb 400 Hurdles final where he led from start to finish.

Unso recorded a time of 51.26 to win the 1983 SEA Games in Singapore which until this day is the National Record 30 years on, this would be the last time Unso would compete at the SEA Games.

After the 1983 Asian Championships Unso decided to retire early at the age of 26 after tearing his hamstring in Kuwait. “I’m not even going to go back to running.” “Last Weeks Asian Champs was my swan song”. He took up a role with the Gintong Alay as a coach “Now I’ll just worry about passing on my knowledge to youngsters coming into the Gintong Alay scheme”

Unso did, however, make a return at the 1986 ASEAN Track and Field Champs in Singapore with bronze in the 110 Hurdles in a time of 15.21.

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sources:

various old newspapers

sea games results

gbr athletics