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Hidilyn Diaz reunites with family after almost 2 years of separation
Philippines' first ever Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz had an emotional reunion with her family, following almost two years of separation due to training that was prolonged further by the lockdown.
According to Saleema Refran's report on Friday, the Filipino weightlifting star proudly showed her gold medal to her parents, Eduardo and Emelita Diaz, in person at Resorts World Manila.
PEP.ph reported Hidilyn finishing her quarantine before going to the hotel to meet up with her fully vaccinated parents, who flew all the way from Zamboanga.
Her manager Noel Ferrer shared a few more snaps from their emotional reunion as well as snippets from their mini-celebration for the athlete.
Hidilyn had not seen her family since December 2019. With her team, she flew to Malaysia in February 2020 to train for the Tokyo Games. They stayed put in the country when the coronavirus pandemic broke out and grounded nearly everything to a halt.
In October 2020, a Malaysian weightlifting official offered his residence for Hidilyn's training and she soon moved to Malacca.
On July 26, Hidilyn made history as the first Filipino to win a gold medal at the Olympics after ruling the women's 55-kg weightlifting event in Tokyo, putting an end to the near century-long gold medal drought since the Philippines first competed in the games in 1924.
Prior to her glorious win, Hidilyn was also a silver medalist at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a gold medalist at the 2018 Asian Games and 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Her historic achievement for the Philippines has been celebrated all over the world. —
