Jakarta—For Hidilyn Diaz, a third time has always be a charm.
The 27-year-old pride of Zamboanga City captured a weightlifting silver in her third Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, ending a medal drought that lasted four Summer Games.
On Tuesday night, Diaz snatched a gold medal on her third Asian Games campaign.
“Nagkataon lang,” said Diaz the morning after her golden lift in the women’s -53 kgs category of the 18th Asian Games that put the country in the gold column of the medal tally board only three days into the Games.
The hard work, sacrifice and long hours of lifting steel several times heavier than her weight finally paid off for the former Philippine Sportswriter Association Athlete of the Year, who again came to the rescue of an embattled Team Philippines the same way she did in Rio.
“I really didn’t sleep easily the past months, 3 a.m. na ako nakakatulog. And I wake up at around 6,” said Diaz, who was 14 when she was spotted in Zamboanga and an innocent 16-year-old when she was tossed to the lions of the sport so to speak in Beijing 2008.
Diaz beat Turkmenistan strongwoman Kristina Shermetova by a mere kilo, a calculated victory that was a result of a comprehensive scouting by her coaching staff led by long time coach Tony Agustin.
Diaz lifted 92 kgs in the snatch and 115 in the clean and jerk for a total of 207, enough to shove Shermetova (206) to the silver. Thailand’s Khambao Surodchana completed the podium with 201 kgs.
For Diaz, all the sacrifices she poured for these Asian Games—like what she did for Rio—reaped her dividends.
“I sacrificed a lot. The pressure was even tremendous because everybody expected me to win,” she said.
Weightlifting federation president Monico Puentevella was all praises for Diaz, stressing the way she sacrificed a lot for the gold medal here has no equal.
“She’s now a class act but how she managed to win this one is for the books. She poured in so much in training, shut out herself from socials—but at the same time made sure she continued her studies,” Puentevella said.
Diaz’s path to the Asian Games gold medal was a rags-to-riches of sorts.
“I wound up finished dead last in my first Asian Games. In the second, I was sixth among 16 participants,” she said. “But this time around, I pushed myself—to the limits—and went for the gold.”
The gold also reaped for Diaz a whopping P6 million in total incentives from government and private sector. But that’s all bonus for her.
The Business Management scholar at College of St. Benilde said she would invest the money—in the stock market and for her future plan of setting up a business of her own—but would eventually fulfill her model stature to young athletes “to save for their future.”
“I want to be an inspiration to the young and up and coming athletes and tell them that we will not be national athletes all our lives and it is very important to save for our future,” she said.
Next up for Diaz is the world championships in November in Turkmenistan.
“I’ll be up for the world, but right now, I’ll have to enjoy this one, besides my coaches told me ‘there enough time for me to rest from the sacrifices.”