HANOI. — Newly-crowned SEA Games weightlifting champion Vanessa Sarno poured her heart out on Sunday, a day after whipping the competition to emerge as the heir apparent to Tokyo Olympics gold winner Hidilyn Diaz in the 31st Southeast Asian Games here.
Sarno, 18, baffled many when she disclosed last Saturday, shortly after her smashing triumph in the women’s 71kg class at the Hanoi Sports and Training Competition Center, that she endured sleepless nights, crying, and doubting herself, as the clocked ticked for the games.
“Ilang gabi po akong umiiyak, sobrang dami ko pong pinagdaanan. Maraming beses po akong nag-doubt sa sarili ko na baka hindi ako ‘yung maglalaro sa SEA Games,” she said.
Now, it can be told.
The proud product of Bohol, who won two gold medals in April last year during the Asian Weightlifting Championships that served as an Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, revealed her father left their family recently, prompting her to promise to mother, Emelita, 48, that she would work hard to help sustain her three siblings.
“I was inspired and motivated to work hard to help my mother, brothers and sisters because my father left us recently,” Sarno said.
“My mother didn’t give up on us despite what happened. That’s why I promised her that I will take care of them. I told my mother not to work anymore because I need her on my side,” Sarno, the second eldest of the four, said.
“There was a time that I wanted to give up because of what happened, but I didn’t because of the people who inspired me,” she added.
When she was just nine years old, Sarno said she stumbled upon a makeshift weightlifting gym on the shores of Tagbilaran, Bohol, more than 20 minutes away from their home in Barangay Poblacion, Dauis.
Nine years later, she is now being hailed as the next lifter to carry the weight of the Philippine Team, alongside Diaz, 31, her inspiration.
She is aiming high, with a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics her goal so she could also reap the windfall that came Diaz’s way after her breakthrough gold medal win in last year’s Tokyo Games.
