Our very own weightlifting hero, Hidilyn Diaz, is the first to win a gold medal for the Philippines!
Ever since the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games last Saturday, Filipinos have been on the edge of their seats everytime a kabayan is scheduled for a game day after day. This Monday was a good day for the Philippines. In the morning, two of our boxers won their respective fights, with Nesthy Petecio ending the day one win away from gold, and Carlos Paalam moving on to the round of 16. Margielyn Didal on the other hand, trended on twitter not because of winning gold, but for winning the hearts of many due to her cool attitude during the Women’s Skateboarding finals.
This evening, the whole Philippines and the world watched Hidilyn took the chance to cement her legacy in Philippine sports historu when she competed in the 55-kilogram division of the women’s weightlifting event. She started strong by finishing at 97kg. Qiuyun Liao of China and Hidilyn Diaz entered the clean and jerk with identical 97kg scores at the end of the snatch. At first, Liao successfully lifted 118kg to leap to first place, with Diaz then going up to 120kg to overtake her, which she did. Then, Hidylin went on to set a new record with 127kg for clean and jerk, making her the first Filipino athlete to win a gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Hidilyn’s 4th Olympics will surely go down the history books, and in the memories of many Filipinos whose. We may be experiencing many challenges in our country at the moment, carrying the burdens of our everyday lives, but Diaz’ Olympic win reminds us that we can triumph it all.
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