15-year-old Rose Faustino happy to exceed expectations after copping silver in SEAG weightlifting

PHNOM PENH — The future is definitely bright for the young Rose Faustino.

The 15-year-old weightlifter captured hearts as well as the silver medal when she competed in the 32nd SEA Games, finishing second in the women's 55kg on Sunday.

FINAL: Rosalinda Faustino settles for silver in the women’s 55kg weightlifting after failing to lift her last clean and jerk attempt at 107kg.

She has a total of 184kg behind Indonesia’s Juliana Klarisa (186kg).@gmasportsph pic.twitter.com/1nf1F4HSed

— Bea Micaller (@beamicallerrr) May 14, 2023

Faustino said that despite falling short of the gold medal, which Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz achieved in the previous SEA Games in the same weight category, she is still satisfied with her performance as she didn't expect getting the chance to fight for it at all.

"Kinakabahan po, medyo exciting 'yung pagkalaro ko. Sobrang thankful po ako kay God and family and to my coaches po. 'Yung akala namin ay fighting for bronze na lang po kami and inexpect ko lang na maging good performance lang ako sa laro na 'to," the Zamboanga native told the Philippine media.

"Hindi ako nag-expect na magka-silver ako or mag-fight for gold ako kaya sobrang thankful ako kay God."

("I was nervous, but it's a little exciting for me to compete here. I'm so thankful to God and my family and my coaches. We thought I would be fighting for broze and I only expected to have a good performance.... I didn't expect I would get a silver or to fight for gold so I'm so thankful to God.")

Faustino, the youngest in the five-person field, had a good chance of bagging the gold as she successfully lifted 104kg in clean and jerk and 80 in snatch to collect a total of 184kg so far. The closest pursuer of Faustino was Indonesia's Juliana Klarisa, who initially had two no-lift in clean and jerk (102kg and 105kg) to send the Filipina lifter on the verge of winning the gold.

Klarisa, though, lifted 105kg on her third try, forcing Faustino to go for the next weight at 107kg. She, however, didn't make it to settle for silver.

Faustino admitted that nerves got into her in the final lift as it's her first time to compete in the SEA Games stage. In fact, it's also the first time that Faustino tried to lift 107kg as she never tried it even in training.

"Kinabahan ako sobra kasi hindi ko 'yun kinukuha sa training, first time ko pong kukunin 'yung dito. Medyo may kaba na kasi last na," she added.

("I was so nervous because I wasn't able to do that in training, this was my first time to attempt that weight. There were some nerves because it was the last one.")

Still, Faustino was glad to have given her best in the biennial meet.

"Gift ko 'to para sa sarili ko, sa family ko, and to my coaches."

("This is my gift for myself, my family, and my coaches.")

—JMB, GMA Integrated News