MANILA — Elreen Ando is done following in the footsteps of Philippine weightlifting legend Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo — now she wants to become her successor.
The 27-year-old double Southeast Asian Games champion and two-time Olympian declared her bold ambition: to strike Olympic gold at Los Angeles 2028 and become the next face of Philippine weightlifting.
“I want to be like Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, the next Hidilyn,” Ando told Olympics.com. “After inspiring the next Filipino athletes myself, I will get the gold medal soon.”
Diaz-Naranjo, the country’s first Olympic gold medalist and the driving force behind the Philippines’ rise as a weightlifting powerhouse, has been a vocal supporter of Ando. She was front and center cheering Ando to her latest SEA Games gold in the women’s -63kg category last year.
Ando, who has already claimed two SEA Games titles in different weight classes, is taking a strategic break. She will skip the Asian Weightlifting Championships in May to allow her body full recovery after a grueling schedule, before targeting the Asian Games in September.
The Filipina lifter admitted the transition to a new weight class has been “super hard,” but her hunger for Olympic success has never burned brighter.
With Hidilyn’s blessing and a nation watching, the heir apparent to Philippine weightlifting is charging straight toward Olympic glory — determined to etch her own name in history.
