A hip, with damaged cartilage and a calcification that rubs against the bone and causes disabling pain, has been the worst weight that Lydia Valentín (Ponferrada, 1985) has not been able to lift. The best weightlifter in the history of Spain, winner of three Olympic medals, has said enough. She retires at 38 years old, with the regret of not going to the Paris 2024 Games, and not being the Spanish flag bearer, as she dreamed of. He did not enjoy his three Olympic podiums - the first two medals, in London and Beijing, were re-awarded to him due to doping by his rivals -, but take away his dancing... Valentín leaves with the best medal: having triumphed, from anonymity, being a reference for a minority sport such as weightlifting.
"I leave happy, full, calm and very grateful. I have achieved much more than I ever imagined. I have put my sport at the top of the world. Starting today a new life begins that will be full of successes since I have the values of the sport that I have learned", confessed Valentín, who stressed that weightlifting is his sport, it has "taken him to the highest level and I will always be united with him", he said goodbye to the active sport in an act of tribute and goodbye this Thursday at the headquarters of the Spanish Olympic Committee.
The pain in his hip has outweighed his efforts and his enthusiasm for being in Paris. Since the Tokyo Games, in August 2021, Valentín had not competed. In fact, he was unable to complete his contest due to the inconvenience. She rested in 2022, recovered, and registered for the Havana Grand Prix in June, but ultimately did not participate due to that injury, which has also prevented her from attending the last World Cup in Riyadh, a qualifier for the Paris Games. Without his last Olympic ticket, the competition loses meaning. End of his career that he started when he was eleven years old.
His weightlifting start was in his town, in Camponaraya, next to Ponferrada, in the Leonese region of El Bierzo. They built a sports center in her municipality where children could practice everything, and Lydia Valentín began to excel in all disciplines. She excelled in both gymnastics and basketball, with great coordination and a lot of physical power. “She was the one who ran the most, the one who jumped the most, the one who picked on the boys because the girls were no longer a match for me,” she commented in an interview.
Thus, at the age of 11, the technician responsible for his town's sports program, Isaac Álvarez, suggested he try weightlifting: he nailed it. At 14 years old, the minimum age to be able to compete officially, she was proclaimed champion of Spain on two consecutive occasions, and she caught the attention of the Federation. She didn't have time to take the diamond to the CAR in Madrid, the Blume residence, to polish it and make a champion of that girl who arrived shy, with her blonde hair and her hair tied with Hello Kitty hairpins.
Lydia Valentín retires with an impressive record that includes an Olympic gold in London 2012, a silver in Beijing 2008 and a bronze in Rio 2016, in addition to two world titles (2017 and 2018), four European titles (2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018) and fifteen consecutive Spanish championships between 2004 and 2018. The thorn that remains: not having stepped on the podiums or celebrated the ceremonies in London and Beijing, because the medal arrived practically by mail, when his rivals were disqualified for doping ; and stay without going to Paris.
"I had the hope of going to Paris but the Olympic Games demand a lot from you. There are 300 days left and you have to give your best but with a hip injury that I have had it is complicated. I was clear that I was not going to compete if I am not the Lidia of always. I have achieved everything and to compete again and know that what I am going to achieve I already have, after a year or so of injury, makes me think about my health. This decision is thoughtful but I am leaving full and very happy. I do not I feel sad. It is brutal that people remember Lydia Valentín with weightlifting, a sport that is not a power in Spain," he commented in his farewell.
