MANILA, Philippines - Olympian Hidilyn Diaz feels the heavy load on her broad shoulders when she competes in the weightlifting competitions of the London Games.
“Desidido ako na magpakita sa London (I’m determined to perform well in London),” said Diaz, who made it to the Olympiad as a qualifier this time after being a wild card holder in Beijing.
Diaz earned an individual qualification slot after landing in the Top 10 among the world’s lifters in the 58kg division, spurred by her seventh place finish in the world championships last year in France, and the Asian championships in Korea last April.
The pride of Zamboanga has made it her mission to “lift Philippine weightlifting up.”
“Motivation ko ang weightlifting sa atin. Parang ako ngayon ang nagpapabango ng pangalan kasi parang low talaga ang weightlifting dito, parang wala lang kami, so motivation ko na iangat ito (I feel it’s my task to help lift the status of Phl weightlifting because right now, it is at a low and we lifters are virtually treated like nobody),” said the 21-year-old.
Diaz eyes to make lifts of 100kg in snatch and 125kg in clean and jerk for a total of 225kg, according to coach Tony Agustin. Her personal best were 96-123-219, which she recorded in the POC-PSC National Games in Dumaguete recently.
“Hiling namin sana makasama si Hidilyn sa advance party sa London (We’re hoping Hidilyn can join the advance party to London),” said Agustin, referring to the one-month pre-Games camp London organizers are offering the qualifiers.
This will be Diaz’s second tour at the Games.
“Kinakabahan din pero expected ko na yung kakalabanin dahil nakalaban ko na sila sa world, sa Asia; noong Beijing kasi parang biglaan lang (There still are jitters but unlike last time when I was like thrust into it at the last minute, I now know what to expect from the competition, having competed with them at the worlds and Asian tilt),” she said.