Hidilyn Diaz: The first ever female Olympic medallist has had a roller-coaster ride to Tokyo 2020
After her historic win, a tearful Diaz celebrated with her coaches before taking the top spot on the podium in Tokyo. Standing where no Filipino had stood before, Diaz, who serves in the Philippine air force, snapped off a salute and sang along to her country’s national anthem.
“I sacrificed a lot. I wasn’t able to be with my mother and father for how many months and years and then, of course, training was excruciating,” Diaz said. “But God had a plan.”
“I am 30 years old and I thought it would be like going down, my performance, but I was shocked I was able to do it,” Diaz said in a post-match interview.
Philippines’ presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a written statement that Diaz brought pride and glory to the country.
“Congratulations, Hidilyn. The entire Filipino nation is proud of you,” he added.
Diaz made her Olympic debut as a wide-eyed 17-year-old weightlifter just happy to make the trip to Beijing, China to compete in the sport’s 58kg division. These are how the four-time Olympian’s journey culminated with a gold medal let’s take a quick look back at her previous campaigns.
Diaz was selected as a wildcard entry for the Beijing Games in 2008, becoming the first-ever Filipina to compete in weightlifting. Diaz cleared 97kg and it was good for 11th place in a field of 17 contenders.
Diaz has a Southeast Asian Games silver under her belt and is headed to London Olympics 2012 with a lot more experience. But it didn’t appear to be her time just yet, being one of two competitors to record a DNF in the 58kg division after failing to lift 118kg in three attempts in the clean and jerk.
Heading into Rio Olympics in 2016, Diaz booked a bunch of pivotal wins by winning gold in the 2015 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Phuket Thailand, a bronze medal in the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships in Houston, Texas, and another third-place finish in the 2016 edition of the Asian tilt in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The result was nothing short of spectacular, though she did need a late twist in order to win a silver medal — the country’s first in the Summer Olympics since 1996, and the first non-boxing medal since 1936.
Hidilyn Diaz became a household name in the Philippines after Rio 2016 as her story of triumph in the face of adversity and financial struggle stood out in a country where more than 20 percent of people live below the poverty line.
“I’m just thankful to God that he gave me a chance to be a role model, for the youth to believe in the fact that Ate (a Tagalog term meaning “older sister”) Hidilyn is a fighter, fighting for her dreams. Maybe God brought me here to inspire the youth to engage in sports and teach them the value of sports.”
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/w_hgsOJkpDQ
- https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/weightlifting-diaz-wins-first-ever-olympic-gold-philippines-2021-07-26/
- https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/26/1020710023/the-philippines-wins-its-first-ever-olympic-gold-after-nearly-100-years-of-tryin
- https://tv5.espn.com/story/_/id/31889753/hidilyn-diaz-journey-olympic-gold
- https://olympics.com/en/featured-news/hidilyn-diaz-aiming-for-gold-tokyo-2020
- http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/