‘We were all shouting here at 2 a.m.’

ZAMBOANGA CITY―When she was 10 years old, Hidilyn Diaz started to heave dumbbells and barbells fashioned from old milk cans filled with concrete, according to her father, Eduardo.

The 56-year-old tricycle driver also remembers his child lifting heavy things―from wood and logs to big jugs (jerry cans) of water―at a very young age.

“I was really impressed by her dedication,” he told the Inquirer in an interview at his house in Barangay Mampang here.

That early commitment to weightlifting despite her family’s poverty led Hidilyn to sports greatness when she captured the silver medal in the 31st Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on Sunday (Monday in Manila). She competed in the 53-kilogram class of weightlifting.

“We prayed from morning till nighttime, until we decided to take a break for a brief nap,” the athlete’s mother, Emelita, said. “I was on prayer barrage then, I have called all the saints for our prayers.”

Emelita learned about her daughter’s feat at 2 a.m. on Monday when one of her nephews called her. “We were all shouting here at dawn,” she said.

Though he could hardly walk as his feet were swollen from a liver ailment, Eduardo jumped around, too. “She went through a lot, and she deserves this,” he said.

Value of education

Hidilyn’s interest in weightlifting grew from her friendship with a neighbor who had a backyard gym in Mampang. Her pal, known in the community only as Catalino, has since moved to Davao City.

Even if her family was poor, Hidilyn valued education, said Maria Clara Deocadez, her former Filipino teacher at Mampang Elementary School, where she attended classes. Deocadez is now the school’s officer in charge.

“Every time she had some competition, we passed the hat for her transportation or food. And every time she returned home, she brought medals,” Deocadez said.

Other teachers described the student athlete as all-smiles, lovable and industrious.

Sorting seaweeds

Emelita recounted that “at that time, we didn’t have money for transportation fare. We were very poor, we could hardly buy a kilogram of rice.”

Because of his ailment, Eduardo stays home most of the time instead of driving the tricycle. “I am always sick. My body swells because of liver problem.”

The situation had forced Emelita and her five children to look for work, according to the Mampang barangay chair, Leonard Aliangan.

There were times when Hidilyn would tell her mother that she was willing to stop schooling because they could not afford the daily P30-transportation fare.

Hidilyn Diaz, of the Philipines, laughs as she leaves the stage after a lift in the women’s 53kg weightlifting competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016. AP

“One time, we asked a family to allow us to work in agar-agar (seaweeds) sorting. Under the heat of the sun, Hidi was sorting seaweeds so we can have money to buy rice,” Emelita said.

Still, Hidilyn continued her training in high school at Universidad de Zamboanga.

To help her compete, the barangay council would give her “little cash,” Aliangan said.

“The barangay has no funds, and given her dedication, we cannot refuse her,” the local leader said.

First break

Hidilyn’s first break came in 2003 when she joined the Batang Pinoy competition and bagged a gold medal.

“Since then, I would see her practicing regularly here (a makeshift area at home) and at Universidad de Zamboanga,” Eduardo said.

His daughter took up computer science, but stopped after two years to join the Philippine Air Force. She now has a rank of Airwoman Second Class.

Dr. Cecil Atilano, the city sports officer who was one of Hidilyn’s trainers, said the Olympic silver medalist “sacrificed a lot.”

“This recent training (in Manila) deprived her to see her family for three years,” Atilano said.

In 2012, Hidilyn carried the Philippine flag in the London Olympics. She, however, failed to take home a medal.

In the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, Hidilyn was a silver medalist in the 58-kg category in weightlifting.

The city government is preparing a hero’s welcome for Hidilyn. “She is more than a beauty queen for Zamboanga City,” Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar said.

Salazar said Hidilyn deserved proper recognition not just from Zamboanga but throughout the country as well “because she is the first female weightlifter who bagged a medal in the world Olympics.”