By REY C LACHICA
Vanessa Sarno’s Olympic debut ended in tears as she failed to clear her declared weight target of 100kg in snatch in the women’s 71kg class in the weightlifting competition on Thursday, Aug. 9, at the south Paris Arena 6 in Versailles.
She was lustily egged on by the crowd in her third attempt, but like her first two attempts, she wasa unsuccessful.
Like John Febuar Ceniza, Sarno also got a DNF (did not finish) card – no thanks to the tremendous pressure having competed mostly in the junior division before this big event.
“Sorry po sa mga nagsuporta, nagkulang ano ng mental toughnes. Toxic kasi environment ginagalawan ko,” said Sarno.
Though she is ranked No. 4 in the world, Sarno raised many eyebrows when she opted to lift 100kg.
She was the second youngest in the 12-player field at 21, and that perhaps was the culprit to her downfall.
And that came in front of a shell-shocked Filipino fans that included Tokyo edition gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and former Asiad champion Mikee Cojuangco.
Only Elreen Ando managed to finish in the 3-player PH team, ending up at No. 6 the other day in the 59kg.
