Cari amici, condivido con voi una bellissima vittoria. Sto parlando dell’oro olimpico conquistato dall’atleta filippina Hidilyn Diaz nel sollevamento pesi 55 kg. E’ cresciuta nell’isola di Mindanao in una famiglia molto povera. Da piccola, pera aiutare la famiglia, trasportava per centinaia di metri grandi secchi d’acqua potabile che un giorno sarebbero diventati i bilancieri. A causa della forte crisi economica con il Covid la Diaz ha fatto un appello su Instagram per sostenere la sua formazione olimpica. Un miliardario filippino si è fatto avanti e le ha donato 1,5 milioni di pesos per spostare la sua base di addestramento in un’area isolata della Malesia e al sicuro dai contagi.
Carrying the weight of a country long seeking for Olympic glory, Hidilyn Diaz finally ended the seemingly interminable quest Monday night.
Diaz, in her fourth straight Olympics, delivered the Philippines’ breakthrough gold medal after conquering the women’s 55 kilograms weightlifting competition at the Tokyo Olympics.
Hidilyn Diaz, 30-year-old, the pride of Zamboanga City tallied 97kg in snatch but it was her Olympic record lift of 127kg in the clean & jerk that propelled her at the helm. Her total lift of 224kg also set an Olympic record.
Hidilyn’s medal was just the 11th by the Philippines since the country first took part in the Olympics in 1924, and now the only gold. She became just the second athlete from her country to win multiple Olympics medals, joining swimmer Teofilo Yldefonzo who won bronze in the men’s 200m breaststroke in 1928 and 1932.
Diaz also want to say to the young generation in the Philippines, ‘You can have this dream of gold too.’ “This is how I started and finally I was able to do it.”
