Rifda Irfana Luthfi - JP/Seto Wardhana

Years of hard training have paid off as gymnast Rifda Irfana Luthfi of Jakarta snatched three gold medals and a silver at the 19th National Games, held in West Java.

At Bandung’s Arcamanik indoor stadium, Rifda, 16, won the golds in the women’s floor exercise, vaulting and all-around events. She nailed the silver in the women’s team event.

Rifda is now targeting a gold in the all-around at the upcoming 2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur as a stepping stone to the Olympic Games.

To sharpen her skills, Rifda plans to hit European or US training grounds.

“I’m going to use the new skills to earn more medals on bigger stages like the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur and the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta,” Rifda, a debutant at the Games, told The Jakarta Post recently.

“After that, I want to reach the Olympics,” said the winner of a silver medal in the floor exercise at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore.

Given the medals that are already in Rifda’s pocket, her mother and manager Yuliyes Andriana believes in her daughter’s dreams.

“My duty as a parent, and also manager, is to keep her on track,” she said.

Thinking back to the early years of Rifda’s rendezvous with gymnastics, proud Yuliyes recalled her daughter as a talented sportsperson.

She said that of her three children, middle child Rifda always displayed her potential, including her agility, to become an athlete.

“Initially, I introduced her to swimming by enrolling her in a swimming school. In the sport, skillful Rifda collected a total of eight bronze medals from various competitions at swimming club level,” revealed Yuliyes, who is a teacher.

Later on, Yuliyes signed Rifda up at a gymnastics club with the aim of increasing her agility. Unsatisfied, Yuliyes encouraged her daughter to take ballet classes, to which Rifda agreed, in the hope that her daughter could combine her agility with grace and flexibility.

“[My decision about ballet was] right because now Rifda manages to display a great combination of agility and gracefulness in each of her moves. That is the key to her victories,” she said.

Choosing sport over school means Yuliyes has to find the best formula for Rifda to keep up with her education.

Yuliyes prefers hiring private teachers to help Rifda with her lessons.

Rifda trains for six hours daily, divided into two sessions.

The teenager, who defeated senior gymnast Dewi Prahara of West Java in vaulting at the 2016 Games, said she would not give up on the sport, no matter what.

“I’m not going to stop, especially at this point where I’ve walked a long mile to get here,” Rifda said.

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