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Powerlifter Patricia Llena: Not your typical teenager
On first look, she may seem like the typical teenager, but Patricia Llena is different, or simply, above her peers. While most girls her age may be collecting Barbie dolls or High School Musical video and audio files, Patricia is busy compiling medals and trophies.
In powerlifting, competitors are also allowed to employ gears for added support. In the squat event, gears used are the suit, knee wraps, belt, wrist wraps and shoes. In bench press, competitors are allowed to use the suit, belt and shoes while in deadlift the gears are the suit, belt and shoes. Llenas’ exploits was the product of long years of practice starting at an early age of four. "Una siyang nagbuhat nung four years old siya. Sabi niya sa akin, ‘tatay gusto ko ring gawin iyang ginagawa mo’. So binigyan ko siya ng puwedeng buhatin at gawain sa mga barbells. Ang totoo pinahirapan ko siya para hindi na siya umulit kasi nasisira ang practice ko," said Leonardo. "Pero kinabukasan nung nagpapraktis na ulit ako, nandoon na naman siya," added Leonardo, whose three other children, 13-year-old Leah, 11-year-old Martin and five-year-old Mark are also into the sport. Patricia, who as a member of the national youth weightlifting team has gained a berth in the 1st Youth Olympics in Singapore next year, was even more motivated to go for her dream of becoming an Olympic weightlifting champion because of her recent feat. "Ang pangarap ko po talaga ay maging Olympic champion sa weightlifting," said Patricia, noting that powerlifting is not an Olympic sport unlike weightlifting. – Perry Legaspi, GMANews.TV
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