VALENTIN PEREZ Lidia

General
OLYMPIC UPGRADES
She originally finished fourth at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and fifth at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but due to anti-doping violations of athletes who finished ahead of her at the time, she was upgraded to the gold medal for the 2012 Games and the silver medal for the 2008 Games. "I was given the gold from London just before going to the Rio Olympics. I was glad, but I had my mind on Rio and I could not lose my concentration. Suddenly you are the gold medallist from London and you are a candidate to win gold in Rio too. That was a lot of pressure. And then, after the Games, they told me that I had won silver in Beijing. It is extraordinary. Just a few months earlier I did not have any Olympic medals, and suddenly I see myself with three. Of course, you think about what it would have been like to have won them at the time. How I would have trained differently after winning gold in London, with probably a lot more resources. These are things I will never know, but it does not matter, because now I have my medals and I know I have achieved them in a clean, honest way." (eldiarioalerta.com, 03 Jun 2021; expansion.com, 09 Oct 2017; marca.com, 28 Sep 2017)

SPORTING IMAGE
She says she is proud that her example has changed the image of weightlifting in Spain as a male sport. "Sport is sport, period. It is true that more boys than girls have practised weightlifting, so I am very happy to have been the first person from Spain, especially being a woman, to win an Olympic medal, and a world championship gold medal. I think people can see weightlifting as a sport has changed, now there are more girls who practise it, and people realise that it is not a question of gender, but rather a question of talent. Now the way is open. Girls have a little easier path than when I started. When someone leads the way it is much easier. If it was thanks to me, I am proud to have facilitated it. Someone had to be." (olympics.com, 31 Mar 2021)

APPAREL DESIGN
She designs her own collection of active apparel, including sweat pants and T-shirts. "I am interested in fashion because I consider myself a creative person. I think there is a demand at the national training centre [CAR] because there are more girls than boys. In the future I would like to dress the national team." (elpais.com, 02 Jun 2018)

She became the first Spanish weightlifter to win an Olympic medal of any colour when she was retrospectively awarded silver for the 75kg category at the 2008 Games due to anti-doping violations of several competitors. She had originally finished fifth in Beijing. (SportsDeskOnline, 13 Jun 2021)

She became the first Spanish weightlifter to win an Olympic gold medal, and the first Spanish lifter to win two Olympic medals, when she was retrospectively awarded gold for the 75kg category at the 2012 Games due to anti-doping violations of several competitors. She had originally finished fourth in London. (SportsDeskOnline, 13 Jun 2021)

At the 2017 World Championships in Anaheim, CA, United States of America, she became the first Spanish lifter to win a gold medal at the world championships when she triumphed in the 75kg category snatch lift and clean and jerk, as well as combined total score. The following year she became the first female lifter to win a world championship gold medal in the newly introduced 81kg category when she triumphed in both snatch lift and combined total score at the event in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. (SportsDeskOnline, 13 Jun 2021)