Michael Martinez is the first Filipino and Southeast Asian figure skater that made history at the Olympics.
He made history when he qualified for the free skating medal round of the men's figure skating event at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.
Michael Christian Martinez, the youngest and the sole Olympian of the Philippines in 2014 was the fifth to perform in a field of 29 other skaters from 21 nations in the men's figure skating event.
Based on the Sochi Games official website, Martinez got a score of 6.21 for his skating skills, 6.04 for transition, 6.46 for execution, 6.36 for choreography, and 6.43 for interpretation timing, giving him a program components score of 31.50.
Martinez also got a technical score of 33.31 for the technical elements of his performance, with his triple axel getting a 9.07 score from the panel of judges. He got a total of 64.81 points in the short program, which is good enough to place him among the top 24 competitors.
Martinez was described in the Sochi Olympic broadcast annotation as a charismatic performer who showed good flexibility and great performance skill for such a young man.
The Filipino figure skater avoided spills and other deductions that other skaters received. Martinez did have some landing problems but executed his triple axel, inverted camel and triple loops well. He closed with a Biellmann spin, a catch-foot position that involves pulling the free foot above the head from behind.
After his performance, he proudly showed his jacket which had the "Philippines" printed on it.
For the skating events, contestants first go through the short program, where they are given a maximum of two minutes and 50 seconds to complete seven required elements, for the most part a double or triple axel jump, a triple or quadruple jump after connecting steps, a jump combination, a flying spin, a camel spin, a spin combination and a one-step sequence.
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