Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz with her boyfriend and strength and conditioning coach Julius Naranjo. Image from Facebook / Philippine Airlines
MANILA, Philippines — Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz on Thursday said she is ready to get married and is just waiting for her coach-boyfriend Julius Naranjo to pop the question.
“Ako gusto kong magpakasal. Gusto ko. Pero siyempre, hinihintay ko siya,” Diaz told ANC when asked if she wants to get married.
(I want to get married. I want to. But, of course, I’m waiting for him.)
Diaz and Naranjo, her strength and conditioning coach, and himself a weightlifter, have been in a relationship for over three years now.
Diaz said she met Naranjo in a sporting event abroad and became friends with since.
“Tapos ayon, nagkagustuhan. After a year, he decided to come here (in the Philippines),” she said.
(And then, we developed feelings for each other. After a year, he decided to come here.)
“Siguro nami-miss ako [Maybe he missed me],” she added in jest.
“He decided to stay kasi sabi ko kailangan ko mag-training [because I said I need to train], preparation training, weightlifting,” Diaz further said.
When her coach left, she said her boyfriend, who was an exercise science major, took over and trained her.
At first, she said she was doubtful of Naranjo’s training method.
“Iba yung method nung former coach kay Julius… Nung una siyempre parang ‘ang weird naman ng training na ‘to.’ Hindi ako naniwala sa training niya,” Diaz said.
(My former coach has a different method from Julius… At first, I thought ‘His training is a bit weird.’ I was doubtful of how he trained me.)
“Mga nine months din before ako maniwala na magaling siya. Kasi nakikita ko na yung resulta, nakita ko na yung performance ko na gumaganda,” she added.
(It took nine months before I believed that he was capable. Because I can see the results, I can see that my performance got better.)
On Monday night, Diaz conquered the women’s 55 kilograms weightlifting competition in Tokyo, ending the Philippines’ 97-year quest for an Olympic gold medal.
The Zamboanga-born athlete also lifted a record-setting combined weight of 224kg and a Games mark of 127kg in clean and jerk.