Hidilyn is PH’s sports star of 2016

• Source: http://sports.mb.com.ph/2016/12/29/hidilyn-is-phs-sports-star-of-2016/
• Thursday, December 29, 2016 12:05 am

By Ding Marcelo

It was, it turned out, the shortest time taken by an athlete to enter people’s hearts.

Unlike other athletes who had to jump, run, swim, bike and box for hours, and others for many days, to achieve their goals, Hidilyn Diaz took less than one minute to get hers.

Her lift during the finals of the 52 kg division of women’s weightlifting competition in the Rio Olympic was over in less than a minute, but it was perhaps both the longest and shortest minute of her life. When the powder on her hands had all but disappeared, she had achieved something no one had. She became the first woman athlete to win an Olympic medal for the Philippines. As an added bonus, she had broken a 20-year medal drought for the country in the Olympic Games.

She thought she had won a bronze, and was jumping for joy. But by some quirk of fate, which she said was helped by God’s intervention, she ended up with a silver when the gold medal winner was disqualified and all those below her moved one rung higher, Hidilyn included.

No matter the circumstance, the 26-year-old Zamboanguena had become the toast of Philippine sports. From humble beginnings as the daughter of simple folks from Mindanao, she became an instant millionaire, a dramatic jump for a girl whose first foray in her sport was lifting barbells fitted with hard cement on both ends.

Next February she will be the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s Athlete of the Year.

No one else came close to challenging her for the accolade.

Yet, weightlifting hardly creates a buzz in a country foolishly crazy about basketball, a sport where winning an Olympic medal is not only impossible, but is as remote as an asteroid hitting earth. But with her triumph, Hidilyn pushed the sport of weightlifting into the national consciousness.

Many Filipinos are now thinking that maybe this sport is on the road to an Olympic gold medal which the country has been chasing – futilely – for nearly a hundred years.

The sport may lack the glamor and fan fanaticism associated with basketball, it may not have the skill set related to track and field, swimming and boxing, but it is still a sport that requires discipline, stamina, strength, and character.

Hidilyn has competed in three Olympics already, having debuted in Beijing in 2008 and then also lifted in London in 2012, but there seemed to be no stopping her from chasing the Olympics’ ultimate glory.

She is being urged to go for gold in Tokyo in 2020 when she will be 29 years old. The event is four years away and many things may happen by then such as getting married and having children, injuries or adding body weight.

No matter what happens, though, whether she retires or not, we join the nation in expressing our gratitude and pride to Hidilyn who has made 2016 a year to remember in Philippine sports.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE RIO

• Received P8 million (P5 million from government, P2 million from President Duterte, P500,000 from Zamboanga City government, P500,000 from Philippine Senate, undisclosed amount from Manny Pacquiao. ) House and lot from Deca Homes, free plane tickets for five years from AirAsia.

• Met with President Duterte after her arrival from the Rio Olympics.

• Lives at her own condo unit near Rizal Memorial.

• Shelved momentarily plans to build a weightlifting gym in her Zamboanga City near her home after deal fell through.

• Resumed light training for the Southeast Asian Games.

• Received commendations from Congress

• Philippine Sportswriters Association’s Athlete of the Year.

• Did not enter showbiz.