After a three-year hiatus from the figure skating scene, the Filipino Olympic Figure Skater, and the very first Figure Skater from Southeast Asia to qualify and compete at the Winter Olympics in 2014 — Michael Martinez, is back in the skating rink, training for the 2021 Nebelhorn Trophy, the Olympic qualifying tournament for the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4-20, 2022.
In March, Martinez and his team set up a fundraising campaign to seek financial support for the 2022 Winter Olympics. They aim to raise 50,000 USD for the training expenses towards his Olympic journey.
Martinez shares that the Covid-19 pandemic challenged his way to find sponsors to support his journey; nonetheless, his determination and dedication to the sport drives him to seek ways to accumulate enough funding for his training expenses to vie at the Winter Olympics, carrying the Philippine flag.
As of this writing, four months after launching the campaign, Martinez has gathered only 9,246 USD from 230 donors and is still appealing for donations to reach their target funding.
Currently, Martinez has been training intensively in New Jersey, USA, with his coach, Nikolai Morozov, one of the top international figure skating coaches, preparing for the Winter Olympics Qualifying Event on September 22-25 — Nebelhon Trophy.
Martinez kicked off his ice skating career in 2005, as early as seven years old, and trained in Manila until he debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix in 2010. Since then, Martinez has been bringing honor to the country, competing at countless Olympic skating events, including the 2012 Crystal Skate of Romania, where he gained his first senior international title, Triglav Trophy, and Warsaw Cup, to name a few.
He was the only Filipino athlete to qualify and compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics and one of the two Filipino athletes who represented the Philippines at the 2018 Winter Olympics, alongside Asa Miller for the Alpine skiing category.
You can donate to the Michael Martinez - Road to 2022 Winter Olympics fundraising campaign at his GoFundMe. Any amount will make a difference.