China theme runs through Philippine weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz’s Olympic gold medal

Diaz has made her stance on the South China Sea clear, saying ‘what’s ours is ours’, and defended wearing a T-shirt stating ‘West Philippine Sea’

She thanked her Chinese coach, Gao Kaiwen, while the Chinese embassy in Manila praised her victory

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Philippine Olympic gold medallist Hidilyn Diaz waves to photographers as she arrives home in Manila on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:30pm, 29 Jul 2021Updated: 12:27pm, 5 Aug 2021

Olympic gold medallist Hidilyn Diaz once wore a T-shirt saying “West Philippine Sea” in both Chinese and English “because I wanted to say that what’s ours is ours”.

Speaking a day after her triumphant return home from the Tokyo Olympics, Diaz, 30, told This Week in Asia that somebody had given her the shirt and she had put it on as a way of sending a message to Filipinos.

“Ordinary people who don’t know much about [maritime] lines and international disputes and political things – I just wanted to say to them, this is what I know. The West Philippine Sea is ours,” the weightlifter and air force staff sergeant said during an online media conference hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Thursday.

The Philippine government under former president Benigno Aquino III coined the term “West Philippine Sea” to better define the country’s exclusive economic zones and maritime waters in the South China Sea following incursions from China.

A picture of Diaz wearing the T-shirt resurfaced and was shared on social media, but was apparently taken well before the Tokyo Olympic Games, where she won the country’s first gold medal on Monday.

China was a theme that seemed to run strongly through Diaz’s Olympic victory. She lifted 127kg to defeat Chinese world champion Liao Quiyun.