Elma Muros-Posadas (born January 14, 1967, in Magdiwang, Romblon) also known as the "Long Jump Queen" of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and a

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

champion, is a former member of the Philippine

Track and Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

National Team and now a legend in Philippine track and field history who specialized in

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. She also competed in the

, 100m and 400m hurdles, 100m, 200m, and 400m sprint alongside the "Sprint Queen" of the Philippines and also fellow legend,

Lydia de Vega Maria Lydia de Vega-Mercado (; December 26, 1964 – August 10, 2022) was a Filipina athlete who was considered Asia's fastest woman in the 1980s. Athletic career De Vega was discovered in the Palarong Pambansa () in the 1970s, and was recrui ...

. Elma is one of the foremost track and field athletes produced by the

under the Marcos Regime's National Sports Program,

Gintong Alay Project Gintong Alay or Gintong Alay () was a national sports program of the Philippine government launched under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos. History Establishment In Letter of Instructions No. 955 dated October 31, 1979, ...

, that was launched in 1979, but was eventually disbanded in 1986 due to the

People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...

and the ousting of

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

. Later on Gintong Alay was disbanded and became the

Philippine Sports Commission The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC, ) is an agency of the Philippine government which tackles matters concerning sports in the country. The sports agency is independent from the Philippine Olympic Committee which enjoys autonomy from the gov ...

(PSC) which was established in 1990.

Early life and education

Elma Muros was born on January 14, 1967, in the town of Magdiwang, Romblon in

Sibuyan Island Sibuyan is a crescent-shaped island, the second largest in an archipelago comprising Romblon Province, Philippines. Located in the namesake Sibuyan Sea, it has an area of and has a total population of 62,815 as of 2020 census. The island has t ...

. She is the 6th eldest child in a brood of nine. Her mother is a former athlete who competed in the 400 meter sprint in her youth. She attended the Roosevelt College in

Rizal Rizal, officially the Province of Rizal ( fil, Lalawigan ng Rizal), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Its capital is the city of Antipolo. It is about east of Manila. The p ...

under a scholarship granted by then Rizal governor Isidro Rodriguez. Later on, she was granted a scholarship in

University of Baguio The University of Baguio (UB; Filipino: ''Pamantasan ng Baguio''), formerly Baguio Technical and Commercial Institute (Baguio Tech), is a private, Filipino, multidisciplinary, autonomous university in Baguio, Philippines. It was founded by Fernan ...

, then soon after transferred out to

Far Eastern University Far Eastern University (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Pamantasan ng Malayong Silanganan''), also referred to by its acronym FEU, is a Private university, private non-sectarian Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Manila, Philippines ...

Career

Muros is involved in track and field competitively as early as when she was 14 years old. At that time, she was scouted by local officials looking for potential athletes for the Southern Tagalog Regional Athletics Association sporting meet. Muros-Posadas won a total of 15 gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games, a record number in the

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

competition which she jointly holds with Jennifer Tin Lay of Myanmar. Muros won eight South East Asian Games titles in the long jump the first at the age of 16 in 1983. At one point, she also dominated the sprints winning both the

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

in the

1995 Southeast Asian Games The 1995 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 1995, Kila haeng echeiy tawan oak cheing tai 1995), officially known as the 18th Southeast Asian Games, was a Southe ...

. She was also a competitor for the Philippines in the long jump event at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in 1984 and 1996. She represented her country at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

on four occasions: in the 400 m hurdles in 1991, the long jump in 1993 and 1995, and the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

in 1997. She was also a five-time participant at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, competing in 1985, 1989, 1993, 1995 and 1997 in sprints and long jump. She was a two-time medallist at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

, taking the long jump bronze medal at the 1994 Games as well as a

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

bronze medal in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. She won four medals in the long jump at the

Asian Athletics Championships The Asian Athletics Championships is an event organized by the Asian Athletics Association. History The competition courted controversy with the IAAF when political in-fighting arose after Israel was excluded from participation in 1977. That e ...

over the course of her career, winning silver medals in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, then bronze medals at the

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

editions. She holds several Filipino records: 57.57 seconds for the 400 m hurdles, 5346 points for the

(set at the

1998 Asian Games The 1998 Asian Games (), officially known as the 13th Asian Games and the XIII Asiad, was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 ...

), 3:40.9 minutes for the

4×400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

, 25.05 seconds for the indoor

and 6.11 m for the indoor long jump. She was a two-time PSA Athlete of the Year, winning the award in 1993 and 1995. She attended

in Manila. Since her retirement in 2001, Muros-Posadas has appeared several times on the reality television show '' Survivor Philippines''. In 2011, Elma landed a role in her very own biographical and loosely-based independent movie directed by Paul Soriano, "Thelma", who won best director in the 30th Luna Awards with his direction in this movie. Elma's life and a combination of many provincial athletes and their lives and struggles were portrayed by famous Filipina actress, Maja Salvador, who won Best Actress in the 30th Luna Awards played the lead role for, "Thelma", as Thelma. The movie won Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography in the 30th Luna Awards. On April 23, 2017, Elma received the first-ever

Palarong Pambansa The Palarong Pambansa (Filipino language, Filipino for "National Games") is an annual multi-sport event involving student-athletes from 17 regions of the Philippines. The event, started in 1948, is organized and governed by the Department of Ed ...

Lifetime Achievement Award during the national games’ opening ceremony. According to

Rappler Rappler (portmanteau of the words "rap" and "ripple") is a Filipino online news website based in Pasig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa along with a group of fellow Filipino journalists ...

's Fidel Feria's article, Department of Education Assistant Secretary, Tonsito Umali said that the "8-time gold medalist for long-jump in the Southeast Asian Games – was chosen by virtue of her winning “local and international competitions, and for inspiring local athletes” through her success. " In 2016, Muros was reported to be working at Brent International School in

Biñan Biñan (), officially the City of Biñan ( fil, Lungsod ng Biñan), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Laguna (province), Laguna, Philippines. According ...

Laguna Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to: People * Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay * Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist * Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet d ...

University of the East The University of the East ( fil, Pamantasan ng Silangan), also known as UE, is a leading private university located in Manila, Philippines. Founded in 1946, business tycoon Lucio Tan acquired the university in 1990. UE was once labeled as the ...

and

Jose Rizal University Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilea ...

where she along with her husband train the youth in sports. In early 2017, Muros along with former boxer Onyok Velasco was tasked by the

to aid the country's grassroots program.

Personal life

Elma is married to George "Jojo" Posadas, an Ilonggo coach of the Philippine athletics team with whom she has a daughter and a son. Muros-Posadas took a break from sports, opting to skip the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain due to her first pregnancy and the birth of her only daughter. Elma's first born, Klarrizze (b. 1992), a former student in

Brent International School Brent International School is an international co-educational day and boarding school associated with the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. It has campuses in different locations throughout the Philippines: Brent School Manila in Brgy. Mampl ...

was also athletic and not only excelled in track and field, but also participated and competed internationally in multiple sports such as cross country, basketball, soccer, and volleyball. Up to this day, she still holds the grade school and high school track records in the said school. In later years, Klarrizze pursued basketball and received a full athletic scholarship in the Ateneo De Manila University. Klarrizze was part of the UAAP Women's Basketball Lady Eagles Team for four seasons (2012–2016). Muros-Posadas' daughter obtained her bachelor's degree in Psychology and is now a preschool teacher. Eleven years after the birth of Elma's first child, she gave birth to her son, George Michael Jr. (b. 2003) who is now also a student in Brent International School and is active and excels in sports as well. Presently, they are residents of

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * Sa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muros, Elma Living people 1967 births Sportspeople from Romblon Filipino female sprinters Filipino female long jumpers Filipino female hurdlers Survivor Philippines contestants Heptathletes Olympic track and field athletes of the Philippines Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Asian Games University Athletic Association of the Philippines players Far Eastern University alumni Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Southeast Asian Games medalists in athletics Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for the Philippines Competitors at the 1995 Southeast Asian Games Philippine Sports Hall of Fame inductees