[EDITOR'S NOTE: Get to know the 22 Filipino athletes bound for the 2024 Paris Olympics through this SPIN.ph series]
JOHN Ceniza admitted Olympian Nestor Colonia inspired him to get involved in the sport of weightlifting.
“Siya (Colonia) yung inspiration ko sa weightlifting. Iba yung may idol ka sa weightlifting,” said Ceniza, the pride of Cebu City and one of three Filipino weightlifting bets to the Paris Olympics.
Colonia, of course, needs no further introduction.
A contemporary of Olympic gold medal winner Hidilyn Diaz, Colonia was the country’s top male lifter not a long time ago, who won a gold medal in the 2015 Asian Championships in Phuket, Thailand, and the bronze medal in the 2016 World Championships in Houston, Texas.
The 32-year-old native of Zamboanga later represented the Philippines in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics, but fell short of a podium finish during the Games where Diaz eventually won her first Olympic medal, a silver.
The failed bid in the Rio Olympiad didn’t stop Ceniz from idolizing Colonia and be motivated from trying his best to follow in his footsteps despite being just a caretaker and parking lot attendant prior to becoming a member of the Philippine men’s weightlifting team.
“Naglilinis ako ng bakuran ng kapitbahay para magka-pera. And then sa bukid, ganun din ang ginagawa ko,” he said of his early teenage life in Carcar, Cebu.
“Pagpunta ng siyudad (Cebu), ganun din. Nagbabantay ako sa mga parking para may makain.”
A 30-minute work cleaning a neighbor’s house would usually net him P20 in earning, while as a parking attendant he regularly received P5 per car he attends to.
But it was also in Cebu City where his life as a weightlifter would begin, with his younger brother the first to take up the sport.
He didn’t foresee back then lifting weights would be his way to improve his family’s way of living.
“Hindi ko nakita. Parang dumating lang siya na ibinigay ni Lord sa amin,” Ceniza added.
Colonia may have seen something in the now 26-year-old Cebuano that he took him under his wings the first time Ceniza told him about his dream of someday competing in the Olympics.
“Gusto kong mag-qualify sa Olympics pero ang sabi ko hindi ko yata kaya yun. Si Nestor ang nag-push sa akin. Sabi niya kaya mo yan, tinuruan niya ako at sinabi kung ano yung kulang,” Ceniza said of his Olympic dream conversation with Colonia five years ago.
Ceniza just won a silver medal in the men’s 55 kg weight class during the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
A year later, he bagged the bronze in the IWF World Cup in Rome, but not good enough to land a berth in the Tokyo Olympics.
Four years later, Ceniza finally realized his long-time dream of becoming an Olympian after finishing fourth in the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand. Only the Top 10 ranked lifters in their respective categories are given slots in Paris.
He achieved it despite nursing an injury a few months prior to the competition.
Ceniza vividly remembered Colonia’s words of wisdom to him.
“Lagi niyang sinasabi sa akin sacrifice ka lang, gawin mo ang lahat at maaabot mo yan,” said the varsity athlete from the University of Cebu. “At naabot ko nga.”
He is the third weightlifter from Cebu to represent the country in the Olympics after Elreen Ando in Tokyo 2020 and national team coach Ramon Solis in Seoul 1988.
Along with Ando and Vanessa Sarno, Ceniza is aware of the heavy burden that rests on their shoulders in the wake of Diaz’s breakthrough gold for the country in weightlifting in Tokyo four years ago.
But he can dream can’t he? Just like he did when he was a teener.
“Sa laro hindi natin ma-predict yung panahon na makukuha natin. Pero kaming lahat ginagawa ang lahat para maabot yung gold medal,” said Ceniza.
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