Last Updated on December 30, 2022 by Andrew Pirie
Erlinda Lavandia
Considered one of the greatest Javelin Throwers in the history of the South East Asian Games. Born in 1952 and Hailing from Surigao Del Norte.
Before the Philippines entered the SEA Games in 1977, at the 1975 Asian Championships, Erlinda, then 23, placed 4th in 44.76m.
Erlinda was the sole gold medalist at the 1977 SEA Games, the first time the Philippines joined.
She won her first Javelin title with a throw of 45.22m And went on to make it three in a throw in 1979 45.78m and 1981 at 46.20m. So when Gintong Alay opened its doors in 1979 at 27, Lavandia was already a seasoned veteran.
She lost her title in 1983 to Norsham Yoon of Malaysia. Yoon had played in 1977 and 1979, and in 1981 had been a silver medallist to Lavandia. This time Lavandia was the silver medallist.
During her time in the Gintong Alay Program, she worked with the late American coach Tinker Hatfield and Sharon’s wife. In the 1981 Asian Championships, Lavandia (her last Asian champs was in 1975) finished 6th in 46.78m.
But regained her fourth and last SEA Games title in 1985 in the absence of Yoon.
Erlinda set the then National Record of 49.94m in 1986 at the Asian Cup in Manila.
Lavandia became a National Coach, Baguio Camp Director, and Multiple World Champion Masters athletes after her career with the national team. Lavandia held the National Record for 15 years until 2001 when an athlete she coached and discovered, Geralyn Amandoron from Cebu, threw 51.00m to win the Thailand Open. A few months later, Amandoron improved this to 53.75m getting silver in Singapore Open.
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Andrew was elected Vice President of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians in 2020 after being a member for 7 years.
He has worked as a PSC Consultant and Research Assistant from 2013-2015, Consultant, and Sprint Coach at Zamboanga Sports Academy from 2015-2017. And Currently is Consultant Coach with VMUF 2021-
Current editor and chief of Pinoyathletics.info, and has recently done consultancy work for Ayala Corp evaluating the Track and Field Program.
Coaches Sprints, Middle and Jump events he is Level 3 Athletics Australia Coaching Certification in Sprints and Hurdles.
Currently working towards a Masters Degree in Education.
He can be contacted on [email protected]
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