Paris Olympics: Vanessa Sarno makes quick exit in debut

Vanessa Sarno could not complete her Olympic debut after missing out on the snatch. PSC-POC Media Pool (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Vanessa Sarno crashed out early into the women's 71-kilogram weightlifting event of the Paris Olympics early Saturday (Philippine Time) at the South Paris Arena.

The 20-year-old prodigy, tagged as the next in line to 2021 Olympic champ Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, failed to lift all her three attempts at 100 kilograms in the snatch portion, becoming the first person eliminated from the contest.

Following Sarno's elimination, the Philippine weightlifting team will leave the Olympics without a medal for the first time since 2012, just before Naranjo won silver in 2016 and the country's first-ever Olympic gold five years later.

With Sarno bombing out, the Philippines' last hope for another Olympic medal this year after two golds from gymnast Carlos Yulo and bronzes from boxers Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas is golfer Bianca Pagdanganan, who is virtually still in the thick of things despite her Round 3 struggles earlier into the Philippine wee hours.

For the first time in 24 years, an American won a weightlifting gold as Olivia Reeves ruled the event after a dominating run.

Reeves totaled 262 kilograms while setting a new Olympic record in the snatch at 117.

Reeves and Romania's Loredana Toma matched the old Olympic record at 115 kilograms in only their second lift, while Angie Palacios first broke the record by lifting 116 in her third snatch attempt.

Toma also cleared 117 kilograms in the naked eye, but following a jury review of her third attempt, her lift was nullified, leaving Reeves all alone in cleanly lifting the said barbell weight.

Worse, Toma failed to lift all her three clean-and-jerk attempts, all with varying weights in hopes of making a late dash to the podium, and was declared a DNF too like Sarno.

Palacios, who totaled 256 kilograms, thought she had the silver in her hands, but Colombian Mari Sanchez cleared a high-risk, high-reward 145-kilogram lift for a 257 total to steal the medal, handing Palacios the bronze instead.

Reeves tried to match her personal best of 150 kilograms to set another Olympic record, but she failed to complete the jerk.

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