Olympic debut for Philippine weightlifter Vanessa Sarno ends swiftly

MANILA, Philippines – What looked like a promising Paris Games campaign for rising weightlifting star Vanessa Sarno ended abruptly.

The 20-year-old Sarno saw her Olympic debut come to a quick halt as she failed to make a lift in the snatch portion of the women’s 71kg division at the South Paris Arena on Friday, August 9 (Saturday, August 10, Manila time).

She registered a DNF (did not finish) after using up all her three snatch attempts at 100kg to no success.

Olivia Reeves lived up to her billing as the heavy favorite, winning the United States’ first Olympic weightlifting gold since the 2000 Sydney Games as she topped the field with a 262kg total.

Colombia’s Mari Sanchez finished a distant second with 257kg for the silver, while Ecuador’s Angie Palacios copped bronze with 256kg.

It was an unexpected early exit for Sarno, considering she placed fourth in the Olympic Qualification Ranking of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).

Also, Sarno has shown she is capable of clearing heavier weights in snatch as she lifted a national record of 110kg in the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand, in April.

Even in the Southeast Asian Games, where she is a two-time gold medalist, the pride of Tagbilaran, Bohol, owns the meet record in snatch with 105kg.

Sarno suffered the same fate as teammate John Ceniza, who also tallied a DNF in the men’s 61kg category after being unable to make a successful lift in the snatch round.

Only Elreen Ando out of the three Filipino weightlifters who qualified for the Olympics went all the way as she finished sixth in the women’s 59kg class. – Rappler.com