IN PHOTOS: Hidilyn Diaz and coach boyfriend Julius Naranjo
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In 2021, the Philippines finally got its first Olympic gold medal, thanks to weightlifter and airwoman Hidilyn Diaz. She won gold in the women's 55kg category for weightlifting at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
Her road to the Olympic gold was a long and bumpy one, with many setbacks along the way. She stopped school and moved out of her hometown, living away from her family for years to focus on training.
In June 2019, Hidilyn voiced her dire need for more financial support to train for the Olympics. One of her most challenging roadblocks happened at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Hidilyn was supposed to compete in an Olympic qualifying event in Colombia but she was stuck in Malaysia after borders closed. After months of gruelling training, Hidilyn finally made it to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where she lifted 127 kg in the clean and jerk category, earning the country's very first Olympic gold medal.
In her Olympic journey, Hidilyn's coach and then boyfriend Julius Naranjo has always been by her side. The couple first met through a competition in Turkmenistan back in 2017. Julius is a half Filipino, half Japanese weightlifter who was then based in Guam. He became Hidilyn's coach for strength and conditioning.
In October 2021, Julius proposed to Hidilyn and less than a year later, during the anniversary of Hidilyn's historic Olympic gold medal win, they tied the knot in a Baguio garden wedding on July 26.
Take a look at Hidilyn and Julius' sweetest photos below:
