It took nearly 100 years for the Philippines to win its first-ever Olympic gold medal, and they have Hidilyn Diaz to thank for it.
On Monday, during the Tokyo Olympics women’s 55kg weightlifting event, Diaz brought home the gold for the Philippines after her third attempt at lifting 127kg, nearly 280 pounds. In the same event, Diaz — in her fourth Olympics — also set an Olympic record for lifting a combined weight total of 224kg.
It’s a wonderful moment of human emotion, made even sweeter because the Philippines have been attending every summer Olympics — minus their boycott of Moscow in 1980 — since 1924 and had yet to win gold, until now.
PURE EMOTION from Hidilyn Diaz as she wins the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medal in any sport 🇵🇭#TokyoOlympics | @OnHerTurf | #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/uZPw1B2ISk
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 26, 2021
What a stunning performance from Diaz, and what a moment! We’ve seen some great gold-medal winning reactions from athletes in the last few days, and Diaz’s is yet another tear-jerker to add to the list.
