There was not a dry eye among Filipinos in the evening of July 26, as weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz made history as the first-ever Filipina to win Olympic gold. In the process, the 30-year-old athlete set two Olympic records.
In April 2020, just as the Philippines joined the rest of the world in lockdown amidst the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic (and just after it was announced that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was to be postponed), Diaz tweeted a video of herself keeping up with training.
Without access to her regular training gym, Diaz made do with everyday objects: “No barbel, No problem. Bamboo stick and 2 big bottles of water,” she wrote, demonstrating why she’s an Olympic gold medalist and why we are not. “Stability and core na rin.”
Diaz was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the time, and had just found out that she and her team mates had to leave the training center and quarantine for two weeks. In a previous post, she showed a video of herself sprinting up a parking building ramp. “Not being able to train and stuck at home quarantine has been very difficult for me. But I must stay proactive and find ways to keep me moving.”
Read: Hidilyn Diaz strikes first-ever Philippine Olympic gold
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