RIO DE JANEIRO―There always comes a time in a nation’s sporting history when one hero passes the torch to another hero.
Make that heroine this time.
Enter Hidilyn Diaz; step back Manny Pacquiao.
A failure in her two previous cracks at glory, the 25-year-old Diaz finally rose to the occasion by snapping the country’s long dry spell in the Olympics with a silver medal finish in weightlifting at the 31st Summer Games here.
In bagging the mint in the 53-kilogram class, the deeply religious lifter from Zamboanga City obliterated paradigms of the country’s participation in the quadrennial sporting spectacle.
The Philippines’ first female weightlifting Olympian became its first female medalist. She was the third winner of the silver medal after boxers Anthony Villanueva in 1964 Tokyo and Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco in 1996 Atlanta.
Diaz lifted a total of 200 kg in the snatch and clean and jerk to finish second to Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Shu-ching, with South Korea’s Yoon Jin-hee snaring the bronze medal.
It didn’t matter that Diaz’s total lift fell short of victory by 12 kg. The silver medal glittered like gold to a nation that had waited too long to end its Olympic futility.
“I was confident before the Olympics that I would win the bronze medal here,” Diaz told a packed conference at the competition’s Riocentro-Pavilion 2 venue. “But I was disappointed that I finished only fifth in the snatch.”
Inspiring story
Hers was an inspiring story of hope, perseverance and triumph. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that one day she would be celebrated as a heroine by a grateful nation.
As a child, Diaz used to carry 40-liter water containers between the village water supply and her family hut in Mampang, Zamboanga City.
Told by her coach Alfonso Aldanete and delegation physiotherapist Dr. Ferdinand Brawner that she had clinched the bronze with still an extra lift left, a tearful Diaz went to a corner of the common weight room, kneeled down and said a prayer of thanks.
Not a moment later, the gallery let out a long collective roar as a shattered Li Yajun of China burst into the room wrapped in utter agony. Li had bungled her second and last attempt at 126 kg and scratched out of the competition, her new Olympic record of 101 kg in the snatch rendered immaterial.
Diaz jumped and cried as Aldanete gathered her in his arms. Li’s disqualification meant the Filipino moved up a rung, with Yoon snaring the bronze.
Hsu took the gold with a total lift of 212 kg (100 in snatch and 112 in clean and jerk), a good 12 kg better than the 200 (88-112) of Diaz, who relegated Yoon to third at 199 kg (88-111) by lifting 1 kg better in clean and jerk.
Gloom eases
Diaz’s feat eased the gloom in the tiny Philippine delegation’s quarters at the Athlete’s Village here following the elimination of table tennis hope Ian Lariba, swimmer Jessie Khing Lacuna and boxer Charly Suarez right on the first full day of Olympic action on Saturday.
“I really felt God’s presence when I was on stage to make the lifts and in that room as I knelt to thank Him for the bronze,” she told the Inquirer in Filipino after receiving the silver mint during the awarding ceremony.
“I was praying to thank Him when the competition announcer declared that the Chinese had scratched. I yelled, ‘Wow, God is good!’ I just couldn’t believe His gift to me.”
Not even the handful of Filipinos in the gallery could imagine Diaz’s windfall of luck, contented as they were at the fact that she had the bronze in the bag with an unbeatable total for third place.
The erstwhile front-runner Li was headed for the gold after setting the Olympic record in the snatch with 101 kg. She failed in her first attempt at 123 kg in the clean and jerk and, in order to stay in the competition, asked for a heavier lift of 126.
“I felt God’s presence while I was lifting,” she said in Filipino. “I was shocked when my coach told me that the Chinese got a zero.”
Cash windfall
The silver medal means a cash windfall for Diaz under the government’s incentive program for medalist in the Olympics. Delegation officials said she stood to pocket at least P5 million in bonuses.
The only other Filipino in the competition, Nestor Colonia, failed all his three attempts at 154 kg in the clean and jerk and, like the Chinese who yielded a sure gold in Diaz’s weight class, scratched out of the competition won by China’s Long Qingquan in a new Olympic record of 307 kg.
Colonia placed sixth in the snatch with a 120 kg-lift.
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