A daughter of the desert ended a 16-year drought Sunday — winning the bronze medal in weightlifting. It was the first U.S. medal in the sport since 2000.
But the biggest lift was overcoming suspicions in the wake of Robles’ doping suspension in 2013 (after taking seventh at the 2012 London Games).
As the Desert Sun reported: “In 2013, a drug test at the Pan-Am Games revealed she had tested positive for using three different banned substances — DHEA, testosterone and pregnanediol.
“She protested the positive test for DHEA as something her doctor instructed her to take to treat a condition she has called poly-cystic ovary syndrome. She did not contest the other two positive tests. She was banned from competition for two years by the International Weightlifting federation. She did not compete from August 2013 to August 2015.”
Robles was quoted as saying: “Overall, this has been the most challenging mentally for me, just trying to overcome my own self-doubts and trying to erase the negativity of a lot of people around me.”
She told TeamUSA.org that Rich McClure was her track coach at San Jacinto High School, “and he had me use the Olympic lifts as a way to improve my throwing. Rich had me compete in a couple of local meets in 2004/2005, and I fell in love with it. In 2008 I met Joe Micela, got restarted in weightlifting and stopped throwing.”
Robles, 28, is cousins with Baltimore Ravens safety Eric Weddle, formerly of the San Diego Chargers.
Reaction from Sarah and others:
To everyone who’s mocking Sarah Robles this morning: could you show us a picture of your model-perfect body wearing YOUR Olympic medal?
— JennyTrout-Holtzmann (@Jenny_Trout) August 15, 2016
Honored to be ur cousin @roblympian. You conquered the impossible Sarah! U freaking did it. Love u so much. #Bronze pic.twitter.com/iz01dCiOn4
— Eric Weddle (@weddlesbeard) August 14, 2016