Hidilyn to give Games final go, but a baby comes first
Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo is deeply preoccupied with accelerating the popularity of her sport, but the country’s first Olympic champion hasn’t lost sight of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“This year I’ve decided to pursue my goal of qualifying for the Olympics,’’ said Diaz-Naranjo at the sidelines of the Inquirer Read-Along recently.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics weightlifting gold medalist, however, isn’t really keen on seeing action in this year’s Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand as well as the Asian Games next year in Nagoya, Japan.
“The Olympic qualifications are more important than anything else and I’m looking forward to them,’’ said Diaz-Naranjo, seeking what could be her fifth trip to the Olympics after missing the 2024 Paris edition.
She and her husband Julius are planning to have their first child before the Olympic qualifiers tentatively kicks off late next year.
“I want to become pregnant this year, so I can focus on LA,” said Diaz-Naranjo.
It could also be her last hurrah in the global quadrennial Summer Games her legend was cemented which also put the Philippines on the Olympic gold-medal map.
“I’m already 33. I think it will be my last,’’ added the pride of Zamboanga City who likewise won a silver medal in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics in the women’s 53kg category.
She captured the Tokyo gold in the women’s 55kg, but the weight class was scrapped in Paris last year, prompting Diaz-Naranjo to go up the scales at 59kg which proved her downfall in qualifying.
Diaz-Naranjo needs to be in the top 10 of her weight class after a series of Olympic qualification tournaments prior to the 2028 Games.
She will juggle that personal legacy with a commitment to disseminate weightlifting throughout the country as well as developing children to be like her someday in a training camp in Jala-Jala, Rizal.
“I want my sport to be known throughout our country so that many more people can realize how good and beneficial weightlifting is,’’ said Diaz-Naranjo.
