Filipino weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz at peace with her body after being teased for her muscles; wants to be an inspiration for kids
- The 30-year-old Rio 2016 silver medallist says she is now proud of her achievements but admits she used to be shy about her build
- The Asian Games champion says her mother initially did not want her to be a weightlifter, saying ‘no man will like you’
Philippines weightlifting star Hidilyn Diaz said coming to terms with her body after being mocked for her muscles has helped her thrive in the sport as she targets a historic gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The 30-year-old from Zamboanga said she had been blessed with a muscular frame since her young days, with her physical attributes and strength helping her to the silver medal in the women’s 53kg category at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
She wants to go one better in Tokyo when she competes in the 55kg event by becoming her country’s first gold medallist and inspire kids to feel secure about their bodies.
“Way back, I didn’t really appreciate who I was,” Diaz told the Post. “I was insecure with my body, with the muscles I have. But I have learned to overcome that now.
“When I appreciate my body, when I appreciate my sport, when I appreciate myself, that is the time I do my best in training and in competition. I do my best because this is the sport I love.
“When I was young, I already had the [muscular] build. Filipinos have good build, in fact all people in Southeast Asian countries have good build for weightlifting, and when I started weightlifting, my build developed even more.
“I have been around for many years and I want to inspire more kids. To do that, I need to do my best, appreciate my sport and appreciate my body.”
Diaz became interested in the sport before she was a teenager when she visited her cousins’ house in Zamboanga City and they were lifting weights. She showed rapid improvement and eventually secured a sports scholarship at high school. By 13, she was already in the Philippines national weightlifting team.
She said her parents initially scoffed at her weightlifting ambitions, telling her she would never find a husband with the muscles she was developing.
“Growing up, when you do weightlifting, it is considered a man’s sport,” she said. “My mother, at first, she didn’t like me to do weightlifting. She said by doing that sport you will not get pregnant, you will lose your ovaries and they won’t work.
“She said ‘no one’s going to like you because it’s a man’s sport’. So that’s how I thought when I was growing up. I wasn’t really proud of my achievements in weightlifting, people would say I have big muscles and I would always wear a jacket to hide them.
“But now, for me, I’m more comfortable with my body because I accept that by being a weightlifter, these are my muscles and this is who I am and this is the hard work that I put into training.”
Diaz is training out of a house in rural Jasin, Melaka province in Malaysia and is likely to travel to Tokyo within a month before the Olympics open on July 23.
She and her coaching team decided to train in Malaysia because of the lack of facilities and Covid-19 restrictions in the Philippines. Although Malaysia is now under a strict lockdown, all the equipment she needs, along with her coaches, are based in the house in Jasin.
She is hoping to add the Tokyo 55kg gold to her titles at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, 2019 SEA Games and 2020 Roma World Cup, as well as a host of other podium finishes in international competitions.
