WEIGHTLIFTERS John Febuar Ceniza, Elreen Ann Ando and Vanessa Sarno had breakfast over the weekend with the country’s latest sports hero, Paris Olympics double gold medalist Carlos Edriel Yulo, hoping his Midas touch might rub off on them as they swing into action starting today in the French capital.
“Caloy is my roommate inside the Olympic Village, so I invited him over for breakfast with the national weightlifting squad,” said Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella.
“They (Ando, Ceniza and Sarno) saw how happy Yulo was after his golden performance in the floor exercise. I hoped that by being together with him, he would inspire them,” Puentevella added.
He said he was forced to pull out the national weightlifting squad from the training camp in Metz, France and transfer their close pre-Olympic preparations in Saarbrucken, Germany because the conditions in Metz were less than ideal.
“With the help of the German weightlifting federation president, we were able to train in Saarbrucken and we came back to Paris close to a week before all three lifters take part in their respective weight divisions,” Puentevella said.
He said that all three campaigners were focused and passionate at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, the site of the Paris Summer Games weightlifting tournament, carrying the burden of following in the footsteps of Hidylin Diaz-Naranjo, who won the country’s first Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021.
“The pressure on them is 24/7. Although we have prayed long and hard for Elreen, Vanessa and Ceniza. The rest is now up to God and them,” said Puentevella, who declined to make any forecasts.
Ranked No. 4 in the International Weightlifting Federation world ratings, Ceniza, 26, a product of the Cebu City weightlifting grassroots sports program, will see action first in the men’s 61kg division at 3 p.m. (9 p.m. in Manila).
Ando will see action tomorrow in the women’s 59kg category while Sarno will cap the weightlifting drive on Friday.
