Diaz: ‘I never doubted myself’

RIO DE JANEIRO—Winning an Olympic silver medal hasn’t sunk in yet for the country’s latest toast in sports, the morning after her awe-inspiring feat.

After a night’s sleep full of happy dreams, Hidilyn Diaz said she finally enjoyed a full breakfast, her weight watch to meet competition requirements done and over with.

“I can’t still believe it,” she said in Filipino at the Olympic Village here. “I would have been grateful with the bronze medal because that’s what we were aiming for.”

The third-time-lucky Olympian could only smile at news relayed to her by delegation officials that at least P5 million in cash incentives plus a house and lot awaited her on her return to Manila on Aug. 11.

It’s heartwarming enough, she said, that she has brought joy to her countrymen and served her God well.

Diaz, an enlisted woman in the Philippine Air Force, said she never doubted that she would perform well in this Olympics.

The winner of all three golds in her 53-kilogram class in the recent Asian Championships in Phuket, Thailand, admittedly felt stronger after sliding down from the 56 kg division.

“In my new weight class, coach and I can strategize better now,” said the soft-spoken lifter who was plucked out of a Zamboanga City lifting club by former weightlifting federation chief Monico Puentevella.

“That’s what we did after the snatch and that’s the reason we managed to pass the Korean (eventual bronze medalist Yoon Jin-hee).”

Hidilyn said hard work during her early years in her home village of Mampang had taught her valuable lessons in life.

“I learned to try my best in everything that I do,” she said. “And there is God who inspires me to work hard. He has been good to me.”