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Spain's strongest woman Lydia Valentín: “Tokyo will be my last Olympics”
31/10/2019
WEIGHTLIFTER Lydia Valentín has announced Tokyo 2020 will be her last Olympic Games – her fourth on the trot – but still hopes to compete in European and world championships.
Spain's strongest woman, 34, has already won four of the former – only failing to do so once between 2014 and 2018 – and two of the latter on the trot in 2017 and 2018, and her record lift in two moves is over three-and-a-half times her own bodyweight at 266 kilos (586.43lb).
At 1.69 metres (5'6.5”), her slim figure belies her 11st 9lb (74 kilos) in weight, since most of this is pure muscle.
“Tokyo will be the end of the Olympic chapter, because another four years on, after a lifetime dedicated to high-performance sport, it would be too much – but I'm not closing the door on my sports career when the Games are over. In August, I'll reflect on where I am, what the toll on my body taken has been, and if I'm still feeling enthusiastic and feel well in myself, why not go on with the European or world championships?” says the three-times Olympic medallist.
She is currently on her annual rest period between major competitions, and plans to start her pre-season training this coming November with her sights set on the European championships in Moscow next April, and where she will need to come at least third to ensure her place in Tokyo 2020 thanks to new qualification criteria which requires candidates to take part in a minimum of six competitions.
Unfortunately for Lydia, next year's Games may be her last chance to get a top two place during the actual competition period – despite having won a medal of every colour, one in each of her three Olympic participations, she has only stood on the podium once, for her bronze in Rio 2016.
She came home from her first Games in Peking 2008 with a fifth-place diploma, which she was pleased with as it was her début, and improved on this in London 2012 with a fourth-place diploma – or so she thought.
Seven years after London and a decade after Peking, she found out she had actually won the gold and silver in these respectively, because three candidates placed above her had subsequently been disqualified for doping.
As a result, she could easily have lost out on valuable sponsorship which may have been far easier to attract as a gold medallist, or even a silver winner, and which is necessary for high-end sports personalities in the minority disciplines as they typically need to work a full-time day job, not being paid when they take time off to compete, and having to fund their activity through their wages earned in non-related work, unless they can obtain government grants that cover all their expenses.
She also missed out on the great honour of being able to stand at the top of the podium and hear the Spanish national anthem played in her honour.
Since all this, Lydia has felt a mixture of disappointment, a sense of injustice, and surprise and delight at finding she had done far better than she thought in her first two Games.
She is one of the favourites to carry the Spanish flag at the head of the Olympic ceremony procession, although Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) rules stipulate that this honour must go to the participant with the most medals, which could mean super-swimmer Mireia Belmonte, badminton ace Carolina Marín – if she is fit in time after her injury in January – and sea canoeist Saúl Craviotto may get in ahead of her.
But she may have the chance to be flag-bearer in the closing ceremony, an honour that went to power-walker Jesús Ángel García Bragado in 2016 in honour of his being the Spaniard with the most Olympic Games participations in his career, at seven, and which will hopefully be eight after Tokyo, despite his having turned 50, an age at which many athletes would have already retired.
Lydia brushes off the controversy surrounding rumours that the flag-bearer for Tokyo could be Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos, though.
“It's been totally taken out of context,” she says.
“I was on holiday abroad, and I just read and retweeted messages I saw which said it should be me or Saúl Craviotto rather than Sergio Ramos who carried the flag.
“All I did was retweet, I didn't actually say anything, but I'm happy enough and looking forward to the Olympics.
“And if I did get to be flag-bearer, too, this would be amazing, and a dream come true.
“It's the only milestone left to achieve, and why not?”
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WEIGHTLIFTER Lydia Valentín has announced Tokyo 2020 will be her last Olympic Games – her fourth on the trot – but still hopes to compete in European and world championships.
Spain's strongest woman, 34, has already won four of the former – only failing to do so once between 2014 and 2018 – and two of the latter on the trot in 2017 and 2018, and her record lift in two moves is over three-and-a-half times her own bodyweight at 266 kilos (586.43lb).
At 1.69 metres (5'6.5”), her slim figure belies her 11st 9lb (74 kilos) in weight, since most of this is pure muscle.
“Tokyo will be the end of the Olympic chapter, because another four years on, after a lifetime dedicated to high-performance sport, it would be too much – but I'm not closing the door on my sports career when the Games are over. In August, I'll reflect on where I am, what the toll on my body taken has been, and if I'm still feeling enthusiastic and feel well in myself, why not go on with the European or world championships?” says the three-times Olympic medallist.
She is currently on her annual rest period between major competitions, and plans to start her pre-season training this coming November with her sights set on the European championships in Moscow next April, and where she will need to come at least third to ensure her place in Tokyo 2020 thanks to new qualification criteria which requires candidates to take part in a minimum of six competitions.
Unfortunately for Lydia, next year's Games may be her last chance to get a top two place during the actual competition period – despite having won a medal of every colour, one in each of her three Olympic participations, she has only stood on the podium once, for her bronze in Rio 2016.
She came home from her first Games in Peking 2008 with a fifth-place diploma, which she was pleased with as it was her début, and improved on this in London 2012 with a fourth-place diploma – or so she thought.
Seven years after London and a decade after Peking, she found out she had actually won the gold and silver in these respectively, because three candidates placed above her had subsequently been disqualified for doping.
As a result, she could easily have lost out on valuable sponsorship which may have been far easier to attract as a gold medallist, or even a silver winner, and which is necessary for high-end sports personalities in the minority disciplines as they typically need to work a full-time day job, not being paid when they take time off to compete, and having to fund their activity through their wages earned in non-related work, unless they can obtain government grants that cover all their expenses.
She also missed out on the great honour of being able to stand at the top of the podium and hear the Spanish national anthem played in her honour.
Since all this, Lydia has felt a mixture of disappointment, a sense of injustice, and surprise and delight at finding she had done far better than she thought in her first two Games.
She is one of the favourites to carry the Spanish flag at the head of the Olympic ceremony procession, although Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) rules stipulate that this honour must go to the participant with the most medals, which could mean super-swimmer Mireia Belmonte, badminton ace Carolina Marín – if she is fit in time after her injury in January – and sea canoeist Saúl Craviotto may get in ahead of her.
But she may have the chance to be flag-bearer in the closing ceremony, an honour that went to power-walker Jesús Ángel García Bragado in 2016 in honour of his being the Spaniard with the most Olympic Games participations in his career, at seven, and which will hopefully be eight after Tokyo, despite his having turned 50, an age at which many athletes would have already retired.
Lydia brushes off the controversy surrounding rumours that the flag-bearer for Tokyo could be Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos, though.
“It's been totally taken out of context,” she says.
“I was on holiday abroad, and I just read and retweeted messages I saw which said it should be me or Saúl Craviotto rather than Sergio Ramos who carried the flag.
“All I did was retweet, I didn't actually say anything, but I'm happy enough and looking forward to the Olympics.
“And if I did get to be flag-bearer, too, this would be amazing, and a dream come true.
“It's the only milestone left to achieve, and why not?”
Related Topics
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