Philippines’ Hidilyn Diaz celebrates her gold medal finish at the 55kg weightlifting at the 30th SEA Games 2019. INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon
The unprecedented postponement of the Tokyo Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic drew mixed emotions from Hidilyn Diaz.
The Filipino Olympian weightlifter felt “disappointed” but at the same time “relieved” after the International Olympic Committee and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe along with local organizers agreed Tuesday to push back the Summer Games for a year.
“I can’t deny the fact I am disappointed with the postponement of Tokyo 2020 and I left everything on hold in preparation for the Olympics. This includes school, family, and friends but right now we are talking about the safety and health of all the athletes, their coaches, and their teams that will participating in the Olympics,” Diaz wrote on Instagram Wednesday.
The silver medalist in the 2016 Rio Olympics stressed about the safety and welfare of others especially those at the forefront of the battle amid a global health crisis.
“I cannot be selfish thinking of all the sacrifices I have done in the preparation for Olympics without thinking of the frontliners risking their lives to save people who are affected by the covid19 pandemic,’ she said.
“On the positive note, I’m kinda [relieved] not to worry that I can’t hold the barbell and do heavy weights for last couple of days because of quarantine and have one more year to prepare for Olympics.”
The 29-year-old Diaz, who’s been training in Malaysia since February, is just one qualifying tournament shy of formally booking a return trip to the Olympics after being unable to participate in a qualifier in Columbia due to the country’s travel ban on Asians and Europeans over virus fears.