MANILA, Philippines — For bringing pride and glory to the country with every lift she did in an outstanding sporting journey, weightlifting icon Hidilyn Diaz is set for enshrinement in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Hall of Fame.
Diaz, the humble lady from Zamboanga City responsible for charting the name of the Philippines in the gold medal table of the Olympics after nearly a century, will be bestowed with the distinguished accolade during the San Miguel Corp.-PSA Awards Night at the Manila Hotel on Jan. 27.
The 33-year-old lifter is just a few years removed from her historic feat of giving the country the breakthrough gold in the Olympiad during the 2020 Tokyo Games in what served as the highlight of a stellar career that had its roots in the small barangay of Mampang.
But the impact brought about by her Olympic success and other significant victories in the international front made her deserving to be enshrined in the PSA Hall of Fame alongside the greatest athletes in Philippine sports.
In what is the grandest Awards Night ever by the country’s oldest media organization headed by its president Nelson Beltran, sports editor of The STAR, Diaz will stand side by side with first ever Filipino Olympic double gold medalist Carlos Yulo as they share center stage in the formal affair co-presented by ArenaPlus, Cignal, and MediaQuest.
Yulo, 24, is the winner of the coveted Athlete of the Year honor.
The grand celebration backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, PLDT/Smart, Sen. Bong Go, and Januarius Holdings, with support from the PBA, PVL, 1-Pacman party-list, Rain or Shine, AcroCity, and Akari marks the first time the country’s two Olympic champions will be in the limelight together.
Diaz is the latest legendary athlete to be elevated in the Hall of Fame by the country’s sports writing fraternity since the late track and field great Lydia de Vega in 2022.