Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, the first Filipina ever to capture silver at the Olympics, proved once again why she’s one of the country’s top athletes, taking home a gold medal at the Asian Games yesterday in Jakarta.
Diaz captured the win after besting other competitors in the 53-kilogram weight class. According to ABS-CBN, she lifted 92 kilograms in the snatch and 115 kilograms in her specialty, the clean and jerk, for a total of 207 kilograms.
Turkmenistan’s Kristina Shermetova won silver after failing to lift 116 kilograms in the clean and jerk, and instead settled for 113. She lifted a total of 206 kilograms, which included the 93 kilograms she lifted in the snatch.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao took the bronze medal after lifting a total of 201 kilograms.
Rappler reported that Diaz will receive a cash reward of PHP6 million (more than US$112,381) for winning the gold.
She will get PHP2 million (more than US$37,463) from the government, another PHP2 million from the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), and PHP1 million (more than US$18,732) from the country’s ambassador to Indonesia Lee Hiong Wee and the Siklab Foundation.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News, the 25-year-old said that her win proves that snagging a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is possible.
She said: “In the [2016 Rio] Olympics, no one expected me to win a medal. Here at the Asian Games, everyone expected me to win. For two to three months, I was on the edge. I hardly slept.”
“It can be done—an Olympic gold can be won,” she adds.
The Philippines has not won a single gold in the Olympics since it first participated in the games in 1924. Diaz’s silver win in Brazil was the first Olympic medal that the Philippines won after a 20-year drought.
POC president Ricky Vargas is understandably happy with Diaz’s win, which came on the same day that the Philippine basketball team floundered against China.
Vargas told the Philippine Star: “I was entering a meeting with some ASEAN sports leaders when I got the news and I needed a few moments to compose myself before I went in. I was overcome with emotion.”
He said he saw Diaz on Monday at the Athletes’ Village where she appeared calm in spite of the upcoming competition.
“You [Diaz] made the country proud again,” he said. “You are an inspiration to your fellow athletes who will surely want to emulate you. Amazing!”
As of today, the country has won one gold and four bronze medals. Two of the bronzes were won by the women and men’s teams at the taekwondo poomsae events. Taekwondo jin Pauline Lopez won a bronze when she bested Nepal’s Gyani Chunara in the women’s – 57 kilogram event.
Wushu athlete Agatha Wong overcame tendinitis and an injured right knee to claim a bronze for the Philippines.
