Hidilyn Diaz is a Filipino actress and model who has been in the industry since she was 14 years old. Due to her prowess, Hidilyn’s name became synonymous with success before accusations of being anti-women surfaced as part of an ongoing gender war against celebrities like Azealia Banks and Elon Musk.
Hidilyn Diaz is an actress and singer. She has been in a number of movies and television shows, most notably “The Vampire Diaries,” which she starred in from 2009 to 2016. Her success story is one that many people can relate to.
Diaz became the first Filipino to win an Olympic gold medal.
Hidilyn Diaz’s life was about to alter forever on the third day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It all came down to one important moment after five years of planning, hardship, and patience.
As she approached the weightlifting platform for her last lift in the women’s 55kg division, the room was silent. Liao Qiuyun of China was in first place after successfully lifting 126 kg.
Diaz exuded self-assurance. Focused. She repeated her particular mantra, which had gotten her this far in the competition: “Extend your chest. Deadlift. There was just one motion.” She had one more chance to make Philippine history by winning the country’s first Olympic gold.
Seconds later, when the alarm sounded to certify a clean lift, emotion flooded over her face as 127kg of metal was elevated precariously above her head. She had finally gained the win she had aspired to for so long, at the age of 30.
Diaz’s path had been challenging for a variety of reasons. As a result of the views she faced as a child. Because she had been imprisoned in a foreign nation for a year because of Covid. And because she was labeled a “enemy of the state” in 2019.
The Philippines competed in the Olympics for the first time in 1924, sending just one athlete to Paris: sprinter David Nepomuceno.
The lady who ended a 97-year drought by winning the Philippines’ first Olympic gold was born in 1991 in Zamboanga Metropolis, a city of over one million people in the country’s south. Diaz was one of six siblings whose father worked as a short-haul tricycle driver and her mother as a full-time homemaker.
She was 11 when a relative, much to her mother’s chagrin, introduced her to weightlifting.
“‘No one will like you when you’re older,’ my mother warned me. That is a male-dominated sport. You’ll gain a lot of muscular mass and won’t become pregnant,’ adds the author “Diaz explains.
“I continued to do it because I found it enjoyable. But as she realized how much I loved it and the perks it provided, such as my high-school scholarship, she began to support me.”
Diaz have a special talent. She was competing on the greatest stage of all within six years. She competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing at the age of 17, finishing second-last out of a field of 12.
She was her country’s flagbearer at London 2012, however the Games ended in heartbreak as she failed to raise her opening weight three times. Despite this, everyone had great expectations for the future.
Diaz, who now combines her athletic career with duty in the Philippine Air Force, had her significant breakthrough with silver in Rio 2016, the first Olympic medal earned by a Filipino woman.
She has already made a name for herself on the world level, winning gold at the Asian Games in 2018 and bronze in the World Championships in 2017 and 2019.
After the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, President Rodrigo Duterte had a video conference with Diaz.
But there was a surprise that no one anticipated coming a year before the Games in Japan were to take place.
Diaz was suspected of being a part of a conspiracy to depose Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019.
Duterte, 76, was elected in a landslide victory in 2016 on the strength of hard-line pledges to combat crime and corruption. He has drawn widespread criticism for a brutal drug war and a series of statements judged insulting or sexist by many observers.
In June, the head prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked for an inquiry into possible crimes against humanity committed during his government’s deadly drug campaign.
The charge against Diaz was leveled in 2019 as Salvador Panelo, the president’s chief legal counsel at the time, presented details of an alleged network of “enemy” external-link individuals and organizations involved in a “attempt to discredit the Duterte administration,” according to the government. The matrix was dubbed “Oust Duterte.” external-link
Members of opposition political parties, celebrities, and journalists, including ardent Duterte critic Maria Ressa, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, were among those present.
Diaz’s inclusion has subsequently been attributed to the fact that she was being followed on social media by writer Rodel Jayme, who was detained in 2019 for allegedly uploading internet recordings indicating Duterte and his cronies were complicit in the exact drug trade he claimed to be combating.
At first, Diaz was perplexed by everything. Then she started to face online harassment from Duterte fans. After that, individuals who were close to her were targeted.
“I was in training when I got the message,” she explains.
“They were disparaging my father.” I was taken aback, but I was much more so when they mentioned my family. I began weeping after that.
“People were texting me on social media, saying negative things about me and slamming me, and I had no idea what was going on.” I have no idea what’s going on, and they’re berating me for something that isn’t even real.
“I was simply too preoccupied with getting ready for the Olympics. It was a difficult moment, but with the help of those who believed in me, I was able to overcome it.”
Diaz’s mental health suffered as a result of all of this. Then there was the epidemic.
Diaz and her crew were trapped in Malaysia, where she was training, while borders closed and flights were canceled throughout the globe in early 2020. They had no idea when they would be able to return home.
Julius Naranjo, Diaz’s fiancé and coach, developed a new program using the limited resources available in their leased house in Kuala Lumpur. They utilized the parking lot as a cardio area and madeshift weights by hanging water bottles on bamboo twigs.
During lockdown, Diaz improvised by using bamboo branches and water bottles as weights.
“Anxiety was at an all-time high,” Diaz adds. “We had no idea what lockdown was. We expected it to last barely two weeks. I was born and raised in the Philippines. My coaches hail from Guam and China, respectively. In Malaysia, we didn’t know anybody.”
It was evident early on that the Tokyo Olympics would have to be postponed.
“For me [in training], an extra 12 months… I didn’t think I’d be able to achieve it, “Diaz explains.
“I used to weep when I went to our sports psychologist and would tell them how I was feeling. They just told me to take it day by day. Because I can’t control everything else, I control the things I can.”
It all paid off the next summer.
When Diaz returned from Tokyo 2020, President Duterte told her to “let bygones be bygones.”
“I knew I was going to win – I anticipated it,” Diaz says. “Before you perform, you must claim.” I have to believe in myself to succeed.
“When I was in the competition, I said to myself, ‘This is my day.’ I believe in God, I believe in my teammates, and the last thing I need to do is trust in myself.’”
She was congratulated by the same president she had been accused of conspiring against when she came home from Japan with her country’s first Olympic gold. Duterte did not address the charge in his conversation with her. He did, however, advise Diaz to “let bygones be bygones.”
Diaz continues: “A video call was made. Then we went to the [Malacanang] Palace to meet him. We were pleased, and I believe everyone is pleased, with the Filipino athletes’ performance in the Tokyo Olympics.”
The allegations of a plot to depose Duterte were never proven. He is still in charge. Despite the fact that he is not qualified to run for president in May since the constitution prevents him from serving a second term, his daughter Sara is presently the favourite for vice president. The main presidential contender is Ferdinand Marcos’ son, who is the son of the cruel dictator who was deposed in 1986.
Nothing could have prepared Diaz or her fiancé and coach Naranjo for how their lives would alter, she says.
Overnight, she became a national hero. She was also set to get a sizable reward from the Philippine government, according to a provision implemented by the previous administration that guaranteed PHP 10 million (about £150,000) to every Filipino who wins an Olympic gold medal.
“It didn’t hit me until Monday that I had won on Saturday,” Diaz says. “I felt like I was in the clouds for those five days. ‘Is this actually the truth?’ I wonder. Is this the case? I’m the first person to win a gold medal? Me? Wow… Wow, just wow.”
Big sponsorship agreements awaited her, and her public reputation has since risen dramatically. She has appeared in television commercials, social media campaigns, and billboards. The Philippine Postal Service honored her with her own series of stamps in 2021.
Diaz plans to use her newfound platform to help break down barriers and encourage other young women to achieve their aspirations.
“Because I went into athletics, I grew up uncomfortable about myself,” she adds. “There’s a stereotype about women, so it’s wonderful for girls to have someone [different] to look up to.”
“They’ll be able to point to someone and say, “Big sister Heidi did that.” ‘I can do it as well.’”
Hidilyn Diaz is a Filipino actress, singer and model. She has been accused of being anti-woman and racist. Reference: hidilyn diaz journey.
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