BOGOTA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Weightlifter Diego Fernando Salazar Quintero, who won on Monday a silver medal in the Olympic Games of Beijing, will be welcomed back in Colombia with a prize of 57,000 U.S. dollars and typical Colombian food.

    Rosalba Quintero, mother of Fernando told the press when his son travelled to Beijing he asked her to prepare him that beans and rice at his return from China.

    Rosalba said she did not have courage to watch his son in action, so she turned away from the TV and started praying.

    "I was not able to see him competing, in those moments I rather prayed to God," Rosalba said.

    Diego Fernando, 27, is the first Colombian sportsmen to win a medal this Monday at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

    Fernando lost his father when he was eight and found his way to the weightlifting alone without his working mother knowing. During the two months before leaving for Beijing, Fernando's mother blessed him and wished him a good return to Colombia.

    "We have not been able to talk. Maybe later when everything is more calm. We have not thought of making a big reception party for him, but we will somehow," Rosalba said.

    Salazar and his mother live in a modest home in the municipality of Tulua in the department of Valle del Cauca (southeast).

    This is the second participation of Salazar in the Olympiads after Athens and the 305 kg he lifted in Beijing are not his best personal mark which is of 310kg.

    For Colombia, Salazar's medal is the 10th Olympic one, the third silver one and the third in weightlifting.

    Salazar will receive from the Colombian government a prize of 57,000 U.S. dollars.

    The one who wins a gold medal will receive 84,000 dollars and 40,000 dollars for the bronze medal. Local sponsors will also give additional prizes.