Cray was born to a Filipina mother and an American serviceman in Olongapo City.
Filipino-American track and field athlete, Eric Cray, has qualified to the men’s 400m hurdles semifinals in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Cray finished in the elimination match at 49.05 seconds. Finishing ahead of Cray were Ireland’s Thomas Barr at 48.93 and Japan’s Keisuke Nozawa at 48.62.
The 27-year old Southeast Asian double gold medalist on Tuesday (Wednesday morning, Manila time) for the finals.
If he surp(–foul word(s) removed–) his best time, the 27-year-old Cray can get to the finals on Thursday and hope for a medal.
“That’s the goal – get through the preliminaries,” said Cray. He recorded 16th best time in six heats.
Keisuke Nozawa of Japan topped the heat in 48.62 followed by Thomas Barr of Ireland at 48.93. For the Japanese it was a personal best, and for the Irish it was a season best.
“Let’s take it step by step. He’s in the semis now and the next goal is to get to the finals,” said Philippine chef-de-mission Jose Romasanta from the stands.
Cray, who was born to a Filipina mother and an American serviceman in Olongapo City but raised in the US state of Texas, has won two gold medals for the Philippines at the Southeast Asian Games.
As of press time, the Philippines has won one silver medal in the Rio Olympics after Hidilyn Diaz finished with a lift of 200kg at the women’s 53kg category in weightlifting. This is the first medal the Philippine delegation has bagged in the Rio Olympics.
Athletics, boxing, swimming, and the recently added weightlifting gave the Philippines its 10 medals (three silver and seven bronze) over the 20 times it has participated in the Games. Since its debut at Paris 1924, this country has been in every edition except Moscow 1980 because of its partial support to the US-led boycott.