Golden day in Paris for the Southeast Asian nation with the victory of climber Veddriq Leonardo and weightlifter Rizki Juniansyah.
Climber Veddriq Leonardo gave Indonesia its first Olympic gold outside of badminton after climbing a 15-meter wall to beat his Chinese rival by just two hundredths of a second.
Veddriq’s gold was Indonesia’s first at the Paris Olympics and ninth since the country made its Olympic debut in 1952.
“I feel very happy, very joyful,” said the 27-year-old. “My heart raced [in the competition]but I stayed focused and finished.”
Veddriq climbed the wall in 4.75 seconds, a personal best, to surpass China’s Wu Peng and take first place. Her coach started crying and Indonesian Sport Climbing Federation president Yenni Wahid said she was “so emotional she could cry”.
As Indonesians celebrated Veddriq’s Olympic victory, 21-year-old Rizki Juniansyah won the country’s second gold of the day by winning the men’s 73kg weightlifting competition.
Juniansyah lifted a total of 354kg in the competition, winning gold with an Olympic clean and jerk record of 199kg to beat his rivals from Thailand and Bulgaria.
Rizki said he was “happy, proud and very excited” to win his first gold medal and thanked Indonesians for their support.
“There are no words that can describe how I’m feeling,” the Jakarta Post said of weightlifting. “You saw me crying because it was such an emotional and beautiful experience and I’m already looking to the future.”
Fast climbing power
The Southeast Asian archipelago has become a powerhouse in speed climbing, breaking records and winning multiple medals in major international events.
Veddriq, who was born in Pontianak, Indonesian Borneo, and took up the sport after joining a group of natural students who also practiced wall climbing, won the sport’s World Cup three times and was the first speed climber to break the five second barrier.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo was one of the first to congratulate him on the golden writing on the X, which said the climber’s achievement had brought “new pride to Indonesia.”
The country had already won gold medals in badminton alone.
“Words can hardly express what we feel. Praise be to God,” Veddriq’s mother, Rosita Hamzah, told Kompas TV.
Sport climbing made its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, but speed has been controversially combined with the bouldering and lead disciplines, which require completely different skill sets. Paris marks the first time that speed experts have competed in their own area of expertise.
“I’m proud, very proud. The emotion was explosive,” Kristoforus Bagaskoro, a 41-year-old creative manager from the capital Jakarta, told news agency AFP.
“We should promote this sport more and help it develop further.”
Sam Watson of the United States took bronze ahead of Iran’s Reza Alipour on the way to third place, recording a world record time of 4.74 seconds.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
