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.

But those medals and trophies are not from her academic exploits even though the 15-year-old is an honor student at the Montessori School in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija. Patricia is assembling a collection of medals and trophies from her exploits as a powerlifter and a weightlifter. Her recent exploits earned her three gold medals and a bronze in the 2009 Sub Junior Powerlifting Championship in Reberao Preto, Sao Paolo, Brazil. Coached by her father Leonardo, a former national weightlifter, and guided by Philippine Powerlifting Association (PWA) national coach and athlete Richie Rosales, Llena won the gold medals in the deadlift and squat events while finishing third in the bench press on her way to bringing home the overall crown in the event held last September 7-12. "Masaya po dahil ito talaga ang pangarap ko," said Llena, the youngest competitor in the yearly event. Llena, the first Filipino to compete in the World Sub Junior Championship (Under-18 tournament), weighs a petite 60 kilograms but she put on a show in Brazil as she lifted 170 kg. (squat), 170 kg. (bench press) and 80 (deadlift) for a winning total of 420 kg. With that kind of showing, Llenas' chief rivals – American Kendra Miller and Yana Talybora of Russia – were beaten by the young morena lass and were relegated to second and third with their identical total lifts of 405 kg. Miller won the gold in the bench press with 87.5 kg and the bronze in the deadlift with 157.5 kg while Talybora brought home the silvers in the deadlift (167.5 kg) and squat (87.5 kg) and the bronze in the bench press (150 kg). Weightlifting is composed of two events, the snatch and the clean and jerk while powerlifting has three events: the squat, bench press and deadlift.
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