Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz Wins First-ever Olympic Gold Medal for the Philippines

Hidilyn Diaz is the first-ever Olympic gold medalist after winning the women’s 55-kilogram weightlifting from the Philippines. 

Hidilyn Diaz lifted an Olympic record 127 kilograms clearly in the last lift in the clean and jerk which sealed her victory. The Philippines has been racing in the Olympics since the country carried its first mission to the 1924 games in Paris.

Photo and video of the event presented feeling(s) Diaz let out a winning cry after dropping the bar, holding her hands in front of her mind as her team members hurried over to hug her.

In Malaysia, Diaz spent seven months training by living away from her family and friends after being stuck in the Covie-19 restrictions. “I miss my mom and her food,” she said in an interview ahead of the Olympics. “But this is what I want; this is what I love to do.”

Diaz was introduced to weightlifting when she was just 11-year-old 

according to the  Philippine Daily Inquirer. “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 told the newspaper. “But God had a plan.”

As mandated by law, Diaz is estimated to receive P10 million under the Philippines Government in the Tokyo Olympics Monday night. At the same time, a bar of silver is worth P5 million while a bar of bronze is P2 million. Still, additional pledges from different individuals have hit the total prize to P17 million and P7 million.

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