How Hidilyn Diaz’s Family Played A Big Role In Reaching Her Olympic Dreams

• Right after Hidilyn Diaz won the Philippines’ first-ever Olympics gold medal last Monday night in Tokyo, where the 2020 edition of the global sporting event is held, the weightlifting champ told the press she couldn’t wait to see her family. She added she hasn’t seen her loved ones for years because of intense training.

  Hidilyn will get her wishes to see her family when she flies back home on Wednesday, July  28, 2021, just two days after her Olympic victory, according to a report by Spin.ph.

  Family matters

  Hidilyn has her family as inspiration in reaching her Olympic dreams. She’s the fifth in the brood of six of Eduardo Diaz, a farmer-turned-tricycle driver, and Emelita, a fulltime housewife. They lived in a poor Zamboanga barangay called Mampang, which is six kilometers away from the city proper, in the Zamboanga Peninsula Region in Mindanao.

  

  Hidilyn, in an earlier interview with this writer, said she grew up “close na close talaga” to her mother and “okey lang” with her father. But, as she grew up, she became close to both her parents. In her Instagram account, she never fails to greet her elders on special occasions.

  ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW

  Hidilyn’s father is the one who’s into sports, specifically softball, which her three elder brothers also took up. She, on the other hand, discovered weightlifting from his male cousins, who served as her first coaches.

  Hidilyn’s mother wasn’t initially sold to her daughter getting into what’s widely known as a masculine sport, but she eventually became supportive. Hidilyn said her mother would always give her “feminine advice,” such as wearing a girdle while training. “Baka hindi raw magbuntis,” she explained. (Read here.)

  What other parents are reading

  CONTINUE READING BELOW

  Recommended Videos