On Monday, July 26, female weightlifter and Filipina international athlete Hidilyn Diaz made history as she secured the first-ever Olympic gold medal for the Philippines– winning the women’s 55-kilogram category at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The first Filipino Olympic gold winner is also the first woman among the roster of Philippine medalists.
Diaz lifted a combined weight of 224 kilos, breaking out in tears after completing her final and record-breaking lift—-beating China’s Liao Qiuyun Liao with a total of 223 kilos lift and Kazakhstan’s Zulfiya Chinshanlo with a total of 213 kilos lift.
As Hidilyn Diaz is creating a new type of female role model for little girls in a country who’s mostly obsessed with beauty queens and models, we want to gather here all the inspiring lessons we can all learn from the country’s new sports queen:
1.On believing in your dreams no matter how you started
“Challenges are just part of life. Time will come when you just want to give up but you need to fight for your dreams.” – Hidilyn Diaz on daytime TV show ASAP.
Hidilyn came from a humble family of six siblings in Mampang village near Zamboanga City on the Mindanao peninsula in southern Philippines. While still at school, the young future athlete would go with her father Eduardo on his tricycle to help sell fish and vegetables on the street or at the local market.
Her cousin Catalino Diaz Jr. introduced weightlifting to little Hidilyn. She started lifting weights made from plastic pipes and homemade concrete weights cast in old tin cans. By the time she’s 11 years old, the future Filipina sports icon was given a barbell to train with after a local weightlifting competition. She shared that she practiced so hard that she wore it out, breaking the bar from overuse.
2.On finding purpose and grit in what you do
Before entering the Olympics in 2008, Hidilyn was a bronze medalist in the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand and achieved 10th place at the 2006 Asian Games in the 53-kilogram class. In 2016, she ended the country’s 20-year medal drought as she won silver medal in the women’s 53-kg. weight division at the Summer Olympics. 
“May plano si God bakit ako nandito, kahit mahirap ang preparasyon papunta sa Asian Games, na-survive ko tapos sasayangin ko lang? Hindi ako papayag na hindi ako nasa gitna, na hindi ko itaas ang bandila ng Pilipinas. Gustong-gusto ko ito. Kaya ako andito para doon. Gagawin ko ang lahat.”
3.On focusing on your goals despite detractors
In 2019, Hidilyn made headlines when she was put on an “ouster matrix”, or a list of “those who want to overthrow the Philippine president”. When asked about the issue, Hidilyn made it known that although it’s her biggest life challenge yet, the focus remains on the goal:
“Anong matrix? Ano po yun? Di ko po alam kung ano yung sinasabi nilang matrix. Di ko po maisip kung pa’no napunta do’n ang pangalan ko. Busy lang po ako lagi sa kaka-training. Lalo na ngayon, malapit na ang Olympics. Ang pangarap ko lang, manalo ako at makapagbigay ng medalya para sa bansa,” Hidilyn said in an interview.
4. On handling failures and giving it your all
The athlete who started real young competing in local and international weightlifting competitions has had a taste of a number of setbacks.
“As an athlete we don’t stop when we fail once, even twice, the most important thing is we do our best and at the end of the day we won’t regret anything,” Diaz said in an Instagram post.
5.On breaking female stereotypes
“We can be beautiful and strong.”
6. On just doing the work
Hidilyn is all about actions, clearly.
“I don’t want to promise to win gold. I just want to do it,” she said in a media interview in May 2021.
7. On trying and trying until you succeed
“Ang challenge is in proving na kaya ko pa rin, hindi pa ako laos. Kaya ko maging malakas at manalo sa Olympics with my team behind me. Kasi this will be fourth Olympics already,” she said in an interview.
8. On keeping the faith
Hidilyn has always been vocal about her faith in God in numerous interviews. After her historic win, the iconic weightlifter remains expressive of her praise and gratitude to God.
“Hindi ako makapaniwala na nandon pangalan ko sa Olympic record. So, I’m really thankful. Grabe si God, grabe si God,” Hidilyn said of her Olympics gold win.
9. And lastly, on embracing your style and accepting yourself
“We can wear whatever we want to wear. Growing up I’m insecure with my body, with my muscle, and with my sports but when I learned to love my sports and love myself, I appreciated my muscles that I work hard my flaws and imperfections,” she shared to her followers on Instagram.
Now this is the kind of role model royalty our ladies and girls truly deserve. Thank you Hidilyn for being your hardworking, goal-focused, inspiring self! Congratulations on your momentous win!