Elma Muros-Posadas (born January 14, 1967, in Magdiwang,

Romblon Romblon (, , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main components include Romblon, an archipelagic municipality of the same name that also serves as the provi ...

) also known as the "Long Jump Queen" of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and a

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

champion, is a former member of the Philippine

Track and Field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

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

under the Marcos regime's National Sports Program, Gintong Alay, that was launched in 1979, but was eventually disbanded in 1986 after the ousting of

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

and replaced by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) in 1990.

Early life and education

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

in Sibuyan Island. 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 most commonly refers to: * Rizal (province), a province of the Philippines * José Rizal, Filipino national hero whom the province is named after Rizal may also refer to: People * Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli, Malaysian footballer * Atep Ri ...

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; ), formerly Baguio Technical and Commercial Institute (Baguio Tech), is a private, Filipino, multidisciplinary, autonomous university in Baguio, Philippines. It was founded by Fernando Gonzaga Bautista and Rosa Ca ...

, then soon after transferred out to

Far Eastern University Far Eastern University (), also referred to by its acronym FEU, is a Private university, private research non-sectarian university in Manila, Philippines. Created by the merger of Far Eastern College and the Institute of Accounts, Business and ...

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 The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

, 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), competitio ...

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 mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standard SI prefix for a hundred is " hecto-". 100 is the b ...

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 slight ...

in the

1995 Southeast Asian Games The 1995 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 18th Southeast Asian Games, Chiang Mai, 1995 (), were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 9 to 17 December 1995. It was the first time that a non-capital ...

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

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

in 1984 and 1996. She represented her country at the

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

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 contested at ...

in 1997. She was also a five-time participant at the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

, 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 for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

, 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 Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

bronze medal in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. 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 edi ...

over the course of her career, winning silver medals in

1983 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 TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, then bronze medals at the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

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,, or simply Bangkok 1998 (), were an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and di ...

), 3:40.9 minutes for the

4×400 metres relay A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is 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 pro ...

, 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 Paul David Soriano (; born October 17, 1981) is a Filipino commercial and film director, producer. Personal life Soriano was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His father is director and pastor Jeric Soriano, the son of actor Nestor ...

, '' 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

Maja Salvador Maja Ross Andres Salvador-Ortega (born October 5, 1988) is a Filipino actress and television personality. Known for portraying Strong female character, strong female leads in Revenge tragedy, revenge dramas in film and television, she has been ...

, who won Best Actress in the 30th Luna Awards played the titular role for ''Thelma''. The movie won Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography in the same awards. On April 23, 2017, Elma received the first-ever Palarong Pambansa Lifetime Achievement Award during the national games’ opening ceremony. According to

Rappler Rappler (portmanteau of the words "rap" and "ripples") is a Mass media in the Philippines, Filipino online news website based in Pasig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and convicted cyberlibelist ...

'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 (), is a component city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 407,437, making it the third largest in population in the province of Laguna, after ...

, Laguna,

University of the East The University of the East (), also known as UE, is a private university located in Manila, Philippines. Founded in 1946, business tycoon Lucio Tan acquired the university in 1990. UE was once labeled as the "largest university in Asia" when i ...

and Jose Rizal University 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 Philippine Sports Commission 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 (abbreviation: Brent School or Brent Manila) is an international co-educational, day school associated with the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. It has campuses in different locations throughout the Philippines: ...

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 The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univer ...

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, Laguna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muros, Elma Living people 1967 births Sportspeople from Romblon Filipino female sprinters Filipino female long jumpers Filipino female hurdlers Survivor Philippines contestants Filipino heptathletes Olympic track and field athletes for 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 SEA Games medalists in athletics SEA Games gold medalists for the Philippines Competitors at the 1995 SEA Games Philippine Sports Hall of Fame inductees