Still Has A Lot Of Hope, Lifter Eko Yuli Irawan Is Ready To Extend His Career

Eko Yuli Irawan (Doc. NOC Indonesia)

JAKARTA - Eko Yuli Irawan clearly stated that he was ready to extend his career as a weightlifter. This 32-year-old lifter says he still has a lot of hope.

Eko Yuli won a silver medal when he fell in the 61 kg class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This medal is the fourth medal since his appearance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (bronze), 2012 London (bronze) and 2016 Rio de Janeiro (silver).

This record makes Eko the first Indonesian lifter to appear in four Olympics, who in every appearance always brings home a medal.

Launching an official statement from NOC Indonesia, Eko Yuli revealed that he still wants to show his existence on the stage of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Apart from that, he also has a dream to build a weightlifting training facility in order to produce reliable seeds.

"Now I don't want to retire because my gold medal goal has not been achieved. However, we will see the progress going forward. Maybe it's still possible to defend the medal (silver) but to win the gold medal, we'll see how the preparations will be. Hopefully we can still compete in the Paris Olympics,” said Eko Yuli, Saturday, August 7.

So, how will Eko Yuli see the competitive landscape in his class in the next few years?

“If you look at age, it is difficult, but if there is an opportunity (to keep competing as an athlete), why not? The most important thing now is how to prepare the young lifters for my successor. That is the challenge,” said Eko.

Despite Eko Yuli's curiosity to win the gold medal, this father of two actually has other dreams off the stage that were planned long before he left for the Tokyo Olympics. The man who was born in Metro Lampung, July 24, 1989, wants to have his own weightlifting training ground.

"I had a dream to have my own training ground before leaving for Tokyo. At first, I wanted to aim for a gold medal so that I could make it happen. But, it turned out that my only luck was getting a silver medal," said Eko Yuli.

Before leaving, said Eko Yuli, he had calculated the total bonus that could be pocketed if he could win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. According to him, if the government bonus is the same as the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, then his dream can be realized by winning a gold medal.

"I have calculated that the gold medal bonus of Rp 5 billion is the same as that given by the government at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, meaning that it is enough to buy land to be used as a training ground for producing weightlifters. Well, now I'm still thinking about it," said Eko Yuli.