Back-to-back gold medalist Annie Ramirez carries on winning tradition of multi-time SEA Games champ John Baylon

As a judoka, John Baylon has won nine gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games, a streak that started from the 1991 Manila meet until the 2009 edition.

The string of victories ended when he lost in the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia, but his nearly two decades of dominance put him among the best Filipino athletes ever produced.

When Baylon brought his expertise over to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he found a protege to continue his winning ways in Annie Ramirez, a 30-year-old competitor from Camarines Sur.

“Siya po ang mentor ko ever since, but as of now nasa Air Force po siya kaya hindi po siya ang kasama sa mga coaches po namin sa national jiu-jitsu team,” wrote Ramirez in an online interview.

Ramirez was actually a former swimmer who fell in love with combat sports.      

“Swimming ang dati kong sport, then started judo, then transitioned to competing in jiu-jitsu,” added Ramirez.

And that choice seems to have been the right one as she recently triumphed in the Hanoi SEA Games for a second straight gold medal, following her win in the 2019 edition in Manila.

Her latest win, though, posed a bit of a challenge as she competed in a different weight class, going up against bigger opponents this time.

“Wala yung category ko noon last time na -55kgs, ang meron lang po is -62kgs,” added Ramirez. “I need to adjust when I changed category since mas mabigat na mga kalaban. Yung competing weight ko na lang yung na-maintain ko and hindi na ako nagpabigat ng husto kasi ayaw ko din mabigat at mahirap po gumalaw.”

But despite the adjustment to a different division, Ramirez won over Cassandra J Poyong of Malaysia before adding Fionah Toh of Singapore, Orapha Senatam of Thailand, and hometown bet Tu Nguyen Ngoc on her way to becoming a back-to-back gold medalist in the women’s jiu-jitsu event, which was only introduced as a SEA Games sport three years ago.

Ramirez, who is also a playing coach for her club team, was able to bring a different mindset to her matches, but admitted that the balance between being an athlete and a coach was tricky to navigate as well.

“Hindi madali yun on my part being a competitive athlete,” she said. “Magkaiba kasi kapag athlete at coach. Kapag athlete ka, medyo selfish ka dapat pero kapag coach ka, selfless ka naman dapat so need ko laging  I-weigh in yung sarili ko in between.”

But Ramirez has now started to develop a winning habit and just like her mentor, she is determined to carry on that tradition as she continues to compete.

—JMB, GMA News