Veddriq Leonardo Seeing Opportunities At The 2028 Olympics

Veddriq Leonardo wants to appear at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics (doc. NOC Indonesia).

JAKARTA Veddriq Leonardo saw his opportunity to compete at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, United States, still very open.

The gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics is already at the age of 31 years and four years. However, he is confident that he will still be competitive at the Olympics.

"For the opportunity, obviously there is still. If you look at the experience of athletes who have already and who fought yesterday, there are still those who are over 35 years old. So, the opportunity to go to Los Angeles for me is still possible," he said.

Veddriq climbed the highest podium in Paris 2024 after successfully becoming the best in the men's speed number to beat Chinese competitor, Wu Peng.

This success is a sweet milestone for rock climbing because the men's speed is the first time contested at the Olympics and Indonesia can immediately bring home a gold medal.

Veddriq hopes that this achievement that he will make in the future can be maintained through new genenation athletes who hold batons.

"What I want to say is that today we have proven the long achievements of Indonesian cliffs globally."

"Hopefully in the future there will be new athletes who can represent Indonesia on the international stage," he said.

Veddriq is one of four rock climbing athletes who left for Paris 2024. However, he is the only Indonesian representative left until the final.

He qualified for the quarter-finals after eliminating his Senegera partner at the eliminaion heats, Rahmad Adi Mulyono.

Veddriq then passed the top eight after beating the host's representative, Bassa Mawem. Finally, the 27-year-old athlete got a final ticket by defeating Reza Alipour (Iran).

Meanwhile, the women's duo speed Rajiah Sallsabillah and Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi had already gone home the day before.

Only Rajiah can go far. He was able to penetrate the semifinals, but unfortunately failed in the bronze medal race.

"Previous results were a motivation for me because at that time I was the last representative for Indonesia in rock climbing. So, I think I should optimize the opportunity," said Veddriq.

From the 2024 Paris Olympics, Indonesia also brought home another gold medal through lifter Rizki Juniansyah and one bronze medal through women's singles badminton player Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.