Former PH sprinter Orlando Lampa dies

Orlando Lampa, one of the Philippines’ top sprinters in the 1960s who later headed the famous Rizal province stable of track and field athletes, died Saturday, October 31, of cardiac arrest at the Taguig Medical Center.

His son Orlan, who once held the junior 100m record, told Rappler in a text message that his father turned 76 last October 23.

Lampa’s wake will be held at the Loyola Guadalupe until November 3. 

Lampa, an ebullient and optimistic man, motivated his athletes by encouraging them. The province of Rizal amassed a formidable roster of athletes who made the national team in the early 1970s under his guidance.

“He was not a hurdler but he played a part when I set my Philippine record (of 14.3 in the 100 meter hurdles),” said 1972 Olympian Lucila Salao-Tolentino in a phone interview with Rappler.

“The (11.5) of (Rizal and Olympic teammate) Amelita Alanes and the 4×100 meter women’s relay records came when he was coach,” added Tolentino,

Elmer Reyes and Jaime Sabado, both from Rizal, held the 110m hurdles record in 1972.

Aquilino Onofre, the younger brother of Filipino sprint king Roger Onofre, remembers Lampa as a very nice man.

“He greeted me when he meet,” Onofre said in a phone interview.

Lampa was “powerful” as a sprinter, according to former national coach Buddy Ravello, a sprinter then for UP in the mid-1960s.

He made the 1966 Asian Games in the 200 meters event, where he failed to advance.

After years of being out of track and field, Lampa returned as coach of the Navy track and field team, which won the 1987 national open championship. – Rappler.com