Elreen Ando eyes another Olympics stint in Los Angeles

Philippines’ Elreen Ann Ando competes in the women’s -59kg weightlifting event during the Paris Olympics at the South Paris Arena in Paris, on August 8, 2024. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines—Team Philippines’ Elreen Ando wants another crack at the Olympics.

After her valiant effort in the Paris Olympics 2024 women’s 59kg weightlifting competition, Ando set her intentions straight as she eyes a return to the grandest stage in Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Games.

“I still need to go to LA. And I really need to work harder in training. My lifts are still not enough to win a medal,” said the Cebuana in Filipino in an interview with One Sports.

(I’ll go to LA. I need to work more in training. My lifts just weren’t enough to get the medal this time.)

After a seventh-place finish in Tokyo in 2021, Ando improved and finished sixth in Paris.

But despite her grand showing on Thursday night (Manila time) with a new personal best record to match, it still wasn’t enough to get her to the podium.

While it wasn’t in Ando’s plan to luck out on a medal finish for Team Philippines, which currently has four medals in the Olympics, she’s still thankful for having fought for the country.

READ: Elreen Ando filled with pride after Paris Olympics showing

And she aims to do it again in four years.

“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,” said Ando.

“Sobrang proud ako sa sarili kong nakaya ko at naisip ko ring kailangan ko itong kunin para talaga sa bayan.”

“We really can’t predict what will happen in a game. It’s sad that we didn’t achieve the goal that coach and I set, but at least Lord didn’t let us go home with nothing. We still fought for the country. I’m very proud of myself for pushing through, and I thought that I needed to do this for the country.)