IT is fact that weightlifting brought us our first ever Olympic gold medal with Hidylin Diaz doing the feat in the 2020 Rio de Janeiro Olympiad.

It is even possible she repeats next year, her last try I believe.

But if I were to accept at face value the records sent to me by a young Dallas, Texas-based Fil-Am who wants to represent our country in international meets, eyeing of course a medal in future Olympics.

And given the chance, it might come sooner than later like in the forthcoming SEA Games in Myanmar this year.

The guy’s name is Miguel Lavarro, of both Filipino parentage, in fact he was born here but moved to the States at the early age of 11, but has been coming back here , even brought his wife to meet his relatives on the father side.

He was referred to me by my friend ex-PBA cager Mike Advani, with the guy’s mother referring her son to Mike in turn, and I referred him to Monico Puentebella, President of the Philippine Weightlifting Association ( PWA) by sending the background info I received from Mike and Miguel.

And going by what he sent, the guy is for real.

His best lifts in the snatch and clean-and- jerk tie the current national records of 125kg and 170kg respectively, while his total of 290kg is a new record, of course, unofficially.

…..To think he accomplished this in less than two years’ time and even started on the sport just on his own without any formal coaching at his own make shift gym.

His first sport was rugby, playing the game in high school and college at the national level but fell in love with weightlifting, and it became a passion for him.

It was during the 2020 covid lockdown that he had the opportunity to assess his future in sports, particularly in weightlifting, and started to move forward with determination to pursue his dreams in the sport.

Good that he was able to discover the Hunger in the Wild gym in Dallas where he now trains and has made major progress.

Miguel takes pride in the fact that he has qualified for both the 2022 and 2023 National Open in the United States and acquitted himself well though outside the podium for now.

The ultimate goal for him as mentioned is to represent his home country, his original home I mean, and aside from his Olympic dreams, he is aiming at setting new national records and carry the country’s colors in the World Weightlifting Championship ,achievements that he will consider as the major milestones in his athletic career.

The potentials of this guy looks very real and I only hope that the PWA reaches out to him and work things out starting with the Myanmar SEA Games that can be the initial test for Miguel if he really can deliver.

I will be more than willing to help in any way to make this happen.

LOOSE CHANGE: I will be watching again live at the Philsports the PVL games,, and by the time you are reading this, either Creamline is still spotless or F2 Logistics would have bounced back from its loss to Chery Tiggo, my son JM will be with me too, thanks to Rhea Navarro…. Next week, I will be in Laoag for a few days as a guest of Gintong Alay founder Mike Keon, now the city mayor, am sure i will get to know a lot of new things plus visit places of interest there for a travel story I will share in the future…will be at the Philippine Sports Commission on Tuesday to finalize things for the two day workshop I and Patricia Hizon will conduct, will share details before the event set March 22 and 23. By Lito Cinco

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