Valerie Pedro

Valeria Rapatamor "Valerie" Pedro was born on 16 November 1976. Pedro would compete at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, representing Palau in women's weightlifting. She was one of the first Palauan weightlifters and one of the first Palauan sportspeople overall to compete at an Olympic Games, as the nation made its official debut at the Olympic Games at this edition of the competition. Pedro was also the first woman to compete for the nation at an Olympic Games.^[1][2]

Before the 2000 Summer Games, she competed at the 1999 South Pacific Games in Guam, winning a silver medal in the clean and jerk and a bronze medal in the snatch in the women's 69 kilogram category.^[3] The following year, she competed at the 2000 Oceanian Weightlifting Championships held in Nauru. She won the bronze medal in the women's 69 kilogram category with a snatch of 70.0 kilograms and a clean and jerk of 87.5 kilograms, totaling 157.5 kilograms.^[4] She received a wild card quota from the International Olympic Committee on 31 July of the same year to compete at the 2000 Summer Games.^[5] For her training, she traveled to Nauru in 19 August and met with Pacific Games champion and Olympian Marcus Stephen, stating: "It will be really nice to train with Marcus", hoping to learn some techniques from him.^[3]

At the 2000 Summer Games, she was designated as the first flag bearer for the nation during the opening ceremony.^[1][6] She competed in the women's light-heavyweight class for lifters that weighed 69 kilograms or below on 19 September. There, she lifted 70 kilograms in the snatch and 90 kilograms in the clean and jerk for a total of 160 kilograms,^[7][8] placing 14th out of the 15 lifters that competed in the event.^[9]

Five years later, she competed at the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games in Koror, Palau, and won a gold medal in the snatch in the women's 69 kilogram category. Later on, she died on 25 March 2007 at the age of 30 due to dehydration.^[10][1]

• Valerie Pedro at Olympedia