How did Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz get into weightlifting?

Hidilyn Diaz has made history as the first Filipino to win an Olympic gold medal after acing the women's weightlifting 55-kg event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Monday.

But did you know that the 30-year-old athlete actually came from a family of weightlifters?

According to her cousin, Allen Diaz, Hidilyn has been interested in weightlifting ever since she was a little girl in Zamboanga.

After seeing her cousins lift, Hidilyn learned the ropes and entered her first competition at 11 years old.

Apparently, Hidilyn already showed great potential even as a child.

"'Yung start niya po sumasama lang po siya sa amin," Allen told dzBB on Tuesday.

"Nakita ko na talaga kasi, maganda talaga 'yung katawan pag bata pa. [Malaki] na po yung katawan niya."

("At first, she just tagged along with us.

I saw it even then, because she was already in really good shape even as a kid. Her body was already [strong].")

As a trainer himself, Allen knew Hidilyn had to work extra hard because weightlifters start out as young as six to eight years old to compete.

Still, he knew his cousin had the determination.

"Lahat naman may potential basta tuloy-tuloy lang, may pangarap naman sa buhay," Allen said.

("Everybody has potential, as long as you keep going. We all have dreams.")

Diaz, an Air Force sergeant, also won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. She was also a gold medalist in the 2018 Asian Games and 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

Finally on Monday, Hidilyn's entire family watched her step on the podium with the Philippines' first-ever Olympic gold medal around her neck.

She put an end to a near century-long Olympic gold medal drought since the Philippines first competed in the Olympics in 1924.

Hidilyn's youngest brother Eduardo, who is also a weightlifter, knew her sister wouldn't settle for anything less.

"[She would always say] my target is gold," he said. —Margaret Claire Layug/JCB, GMA News