Weightlifter Sarah Robles was all smiles on the podium to accept the bronze medal in the 75 kg-plus division this weekend at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Robles, a California native and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had a combined score of 286 and placed third behind Suping Meng of China, who won gold, and Kuk Hyang Kim of North Korea, who took silver, whose scores topped 300.
In weightlifting, there are two portions — the snatch where competitors must lift the weight over their head in a continuous motion and the clean and jerk where they pull up the weight and then lift it above their head. Each gets three lifts in each portion.
In the snatch, Robles’ best was 126 kg (277.8 pounds) and in the clean and jerk, her best was 160 kg (352.7 pounds). For each of her lifts, she wore patriotic socks — one was blue with white stars and the other was red and white striped.
A scripture she and her coach Tim Swords, who is Catholic, recently read helped her perspective.
“I had a moment with my coach,” she said in the post-competition press conference (see Deseret News’ Amy Donaldson’s “Sarah Robles dumps doubt and negativity to earn first U.S. weightlifting medal in 16 years”). “We were reading scriptures together, and … it talked about using your faith as a foundation and using singing and dancing as a way to praise. And I’ve tried to view the platform as my spiritual foundation, and my lifts as singing and dancing and praising. I try to keep it in the right perspective and use my body to glorify my God.”
Robles was one of several Mormon athletes competing this weekend in Rio.
Volleyball: Brigham Young University alumnus Taylor Sander helped the USA men’s volleyball team beat France 3 matches to 1 on Saturday.
“I thought I played my best match of the Olympics,” he told the Donaldson after the match (see “BYU's Taylor Sander enjoys best match of the Olympics thanks to support of teammates, renewed confidence”). I want to do that every match, that’s my goal; my teammates really helped me.”
The men have one more game in the preliminary round, and it’s on Monday against Mexico.
Water polo: USA women’s water polo team, including goalkeeper Sami Hill, won 11-6 over Hungary in their last game in the preliminary round. They move to the quarterfinals and play Brazil on Monday.
Basketball: The Australian women, including LDS point guard Leilani Mitchell, won the last game of the preliminary round against Belarus 74-66. They move on to the quarterfinals and play France on Tuesday.
Rowing: Lucia Palermo of Argentina placed 17th overall in the women’s single sculls rowing competition finals.
Track and field: Lydia Casey Jele, of Botswana, competed in the 400-meter track qualifiers. She was sixth in her heat and 27th overall; the top 24 move to the next round.
She posted on Facebook thanks to her coach and husband. She also noted that this year had been a great year for her with many improvements “I know I will get there, just have to keep on working hard and be patient and wait for the Lord's timing,” she wrote.
Competing Monday
Water polo: The USA women, including Hill, play Brazil in the quarterfinals.
Volleyball: The USA men, including Sander, play Mexico in the last game of the preliminary round.
On social media …
The medal ceremony for women's shot put was on Saturday.
New Zealand shot put silver medalist Valerie Adams, left, posted her congratulations to gold medalist Michelle Carter of the United States and bronze medalist Anita Marton of Hungary and shared a photo of the three of them on her Facebook page.
“I hope that throughout my journey, I have inspired our young girls in NZ and across the globe to be the best they can be and embrace their bodies whole heartedly cause you all are beautiful,” she wrote.
She also expressed her gratitude for the support she’s received on Twitter.
USA racewalker John Nunn watched several track events this weekend, including the women’s marathon.
Robles posted on Instagram that “I lifted all the weights tonight! Protein shake and a call to grandma is how I'll finish off my night.”
See “Mormons competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio” for more on the LDS athletes in the games.
Email: rappleye@deseretnews.com Twitter: CTRappleye