'Outstanding athlete, Filipina': World champ Hidilyn Diaz boosts 2024 Olympics bid
MANILA, Philippines – To be called one of the greatest ever, Hidilyn Diaz knew she must reign supreme in the strongest competitions in the world.
It included one where a gold has eluded her for so long — the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships.
Delivering a tour de force performance, the 31-year-old Olympic champion blew away the field in sweeping all three mints in the IWF Worlds in Bogota, Colombia Thursday to finally collect the one medal that's been missing in her impressive collection.
Diaz was nothing less than indomitable in breezing through triumphs in snatch where she lifted 93 kilograms, clean and jerk with a 114kg, and total with a 207kg to add to her huge trophy case, which includes conquests in the Olympics, Asian Games, Asian Championships and Southeast Asian Games.
Unbeatable!!!???????? Watch Hidilyn Diaz win the Gold in Snatch during the W55KG A Group! She lifted 93KG on her second attempt and tried a 96KG on the third but failed! However, that was just an amazing performance as always!! ?????????????? pic.twitter.com/84KfwGYvFN
— IWF (@iwfnet) December 8, 2022
Another 2 Gold medals for Hidilyn Diaz! ????????She started lifting C&Js when all her W55KG colleagues had already done their 3 attempts and did this amazing 114KG for the Gold medal in C&J and Total!!! Congratulations Hidilyn! pic.twitter.com/QyJy0wSL3Y
— IWF (@iwfnet) December 8, 2022
While it wasn’t as dominant as her effort in Tokyo where she had an electric 224kg total on a 97kg in snatch and a 127kg in clean and jerk, her performance in Bogota was nonetheless enough for her to bring home the bacon.
Colombian Rosalba Estela Aguila del Morales was at distant second with a 199kg (89kg snatch, 110kg clean and jerk), while Mexican Ana Gabriel Lopez Ferrer was third with a 198kg (90kg, 108kg).
Most importantly, Diaz earned precious qualifying points to the 2024 Paris Games, where she will be gunning to gain another crack at Olympic gold — a swan song fit for a queen.
It will also be in Paris where Diaz could seal her rightful place as one of the titans of the sport.
“She’s an outstanding athlete and Filipina,” an ecstatic Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas president Monico Puentevella told The STAR Thursday. “She’s got more chances now to go to Paris 2024.”
“She really has a heart of a champion,” he added.
Puentevella, who thanked President Bong Bong Marcos and the Philippine Sports Commission for the support, said Diaz’s performance should inspire not just the Southeast Asian nation of 108 million people but also the rest of the national contingent in Bogota, including Olympian Elreen Ando and Asian and SEA Games titlist Vanessa Sarno.
“Her gold would inspire our other lifters coming up,” said Puentevella.
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