Eko Yuli Irawan, the King of Weightlifting Who Seeks the Taste of Gold Medal ‘Bites’
The 2024 Olympics held in Paris has 32 sports competing over 17 days with 329 numbers, one of the 32 sports is weightlifting. The Indonesian contingent managed to dispatch 3 athletes in the weightlifting sport, namely Eko Yuli Irawan in the men’s 61 kg class, then there was a young talent from Banten named Rizki Juniansyah in the men’s 73 kg class and one of the weightlifting veterans from Aceh, Nurul Akmal. Three of them have the opportunity to secure medals in their respective classes. The Indonesian contingent is getting a breath of fresh air from the three weightlifters.
The ‘fresh air’ for the Indonesian contingent cannot be separated from the presence of Eko Yuli Irawan, who returned to the four-year event. Eko will compete in the men’s 61 kg class against representatives from Kiribati, Bulgaria, Thailand, Malaysia, Georgia, Italy, China, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and the United States. Eko’s track record at this grand sport event is brilliant. Two silver and two bronze were successfully bagged by Eko with a success ratio of 1 medal per four-year event or it can be said that Eko has won medals since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in a row until the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He can add to this achievement if he defeats his opponent on August 7 at 20:00 WIB.
Eko’s ‘fruits of the harvest’ has been the result of years of hard work. Eko was born in Metro City, Lampung on July 24, 1989. Eko was born into a poor family. His father, Saman, works as a pedicab driver to earn a living for the family while his mother, Wastiah, helps the family economy by selling vegetables. Before becoming famous as an Indonesian athlete who won consecutive medals at the Olympics, Eko was already famous as ‘The Best Lifter’ at the 2007 weightlifting championship in Prague, Czech Republic. Eko began his career as a lifter at the world junior championships in 2006. Eko even managed to secure a silver medal at the event. At the 2024 Olympics, Eko still gained the ambition to get a gold medal. Curiosity about the ‘bite of gold’ is one of Eko’s motivations. Because it is likely that Eko will end his career as a Lifter in the world class championship like Olympics because of several factors, one of which is very tight competition. So, a fiery ambition will be shown by Eko to achieve his goal of trying to ‘bite of gold’ in 2024 Olympic gold.
Eko can already be called a hero and make Indonesia proud also managed to raise the red and white flag at the event for the 4 editions of the Olympics. His mother, who’s from the beginning had forbidden him to follow weightlifting because of economic hardship, was completely answered by Eko as a filial son. If Eko manages to secure the podium in the 61 kg class, Eko has legitimately won Olympic medals in 5 different editions and no one has matched Eko’s record in Indonesia. Eko’s trophy cabinet is not only filled with Olympic medals, 7 SEA Games golds and 1 Asian Games gold are really not to be ignored. If Eko decides to hang up his shoes, Eko has been labeled a hero in the weightlifting branch by packing all those brilliant achievements.
Sources:
Antara news. (2022, 20 Mei). Eko Yuli Irawan ingin buktikan bahwa usia hanyalah angka. Diakses pada 9 Agustus 2024, dari https://www.antaranews.com/berita/2892389/eko-yuli-irawan-ingin-buktikan-bahwa-usia-hanyalah-angka.
Writer: Naufal Akiela (Accounting’21)
Editor: Nada Utari Rusmanda (Dentistry’21)
