Paris Olympics: Elreen Ando sets PH best in Olympics

ELREEN ANDO finished sixth in the women’s 59kg weightlifting event, but she managed to set a new Philippine record at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Thursday evening at the South Paris Arena. 

Ando lost out on a medal by finishing sixth in the competition, but the country’s focus was elsewhere, as the Filipina weightlifter achieved a new personal and national record at the Olympics. 

The 25-year-old weightlifter finished her weight class with a total of 230kg, including a Philippine best of 130kg on her final clean and jerk effort, a mark that Filipino Olympians would seek or improve.

A lift higher

Ando missed her initial effort at the 100kg snatch, but had a good lift on her second try. However, she was unable to lift the heavier 102kg on her third attempt, finishing eighth overall. 

In the following event, the Filipina weightlifter struggled to raise the bar on her first attempt at the 130kg clean and jerk. Taking it one step at a time, she was able to lift the bar on her second attempt but failed to perform the jerk.

Photo Courtesy: AFP

Ando was able to obtain a good lift on her final lift for the Paris Games, finishing with a clean and jerk of 130kg. This enabled her to set a new personal best at the aforementioned event. 

Luo Shifang won another gold medal for China in a record-breaking performance, setting a new Olympic record for the snatch and a new standard for the clean and jerk, for a total of 241kg. 

Nonetheless, Ando was able to do well in every event she competed in, despite struggling at first and falling short of her goal of winning more medals for the Philippines.

Only the beginning

Despite finishing eighth and sixth in the snatch and clean and jerk events, Ando was still certain that she had made progress and improved on her prior result at the Tokyo Games.

“Hindi naman siya ganun talaga kapangit yung performance. Proud pa rin ako sa sarili ko kasi nag-improve pa rin ako tapos nakapag-PR pa rin po ako for my personal record po,” says Ando of her performance.

Photo Courtesy: AFP

“Hindi talaga natin nasasabi ano ang mangyayari sa laro. Malungkot man na hindi namin nakuha ‘yung target talaga namin ni coach pero, at least, hindi pa rin ibinigay ni Lord na ma-zero kami. Naipaglaban pa rin para sa bayan.”

“Parang naiyak ako na nakuha ko ‘yung 130kg (clean and jerk) tapos naiyak din ako kasi siyempre, kahit ganun ka-pangit ‘yung laro ko, nag-improve pa rin po ako Sobrang proud ako sa sarili kong nakaya ko at naisip ko ring kailangan ko itong kunin para talaga sa bayan,” she added.

Following her spectacular performance in Paris, Ando has already expressed her excitement for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Indeed, this is merely the beginning of her young weightlifting career.