Diaz’s silver glitters like gold

WINNING LIFT Hidilyn Diaz’s silver medal finish in Rio de Janeiro makes her the first Filipino woman to win an Olympic medal and ends the Philippines’ medal drought since the 2000 Olympics in Athens. AP

“I expected to win the bronze going to this competition,” Diaz said. “I was shocked when I was told that the Chinese got nothing.”

Yoon snared the bronze with a total lift of 199 kg.

Coming into the Rio Games, the Philippines had bagged nine medals (two silver and seven bronze). The last time a Filipino went up the Olympic podium was when boxer Velasco won a silver in Atlanta in 1996.

In the 2012 London Olympics, Diaz failed to put a score on the board in the women’s 58-kg category of the weightlifting competitions.

Diaz, the country’s flag-bearer during the London Games, blew all three attempts to lift 118 kilograms in the clean and jerk, one of the sports’ three events. She walked away from the platform in tears after her final try, collapsing into the arms of her coach, Tony Agustin.

The woman athlete first joined the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing as a wild card, on the invitation of the international federation. Diaz, who was 17 then, was the youngest member of the Philippine team, but she smashed her national record total in the women’s 58-kg class.

She lifted 192 kg on a snatch of 85 kg and a Philippine record 107 kg in the clean and jerk.

For the Rio stint, Diaz shifted from the 56-kg class to 53-kg.

Unexpected result

In Manila, sports analysts had not expected Diaz to bag a medal at the 2016 Games after coming up empty in the 2008 and 2012 editions.

“We had high hopes with other sports. So (Diaz’s medal) is a surprise. A lot of people didn’t expect she would take a medal,” said Ronel Abrenica, executive director of the Philippine Sports Commission.

But Abrenica said he noticed something from the athlete.

“I was watching her before. I saw her sincerity and determination. You could see it in the way she talks. She was determined to win. She had the fire in the belly,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“Before she set off (for Rio), she told me, ‘at least, I can get a bronze.’ So this (silver) is a bonus.” With reports from Inquirer Research and AFP