WHEN Filipinos look back on 2021, they’ll remember this iron lady who made history for Philippine sports under the most unusual circumstances.
As the Covid-19 pandemic raged everywhere, Hidilyn Diaz lifted the gloom of a nation reeling from the unimaginable loss of lives and livelihood when she delivered the country's first-ever Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games.
That singular feat made the strong-willed weightlifter from Zamboanga the hands-down choice as SPIN.ph Sportsman of the Year for 2021 - the third such award for Diaz since the country's first full-staff, standalone sports website started handing out the annual award in 2013.
Diaz first won the SOTY honor in 2016 when she won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, ending a 20-year medal drought for the Philippines, and again in 2018 when she stood at the head of a four-gold haul by Philippine women athletes at the Asian Games in Indonesia with a record performance in weightlifting's 53kg class.
Not even those standout performances prepared us for what she was about to do in Tokyo, where she largely slipped under the radar in most medal forecasts which mostly banked on gymnast Caloy Yulo and golfer Yuka Saso to end the Philippines' 97-year search for a maiden Olympic gold medal.
Part of the reason for the low expectations was a rocky buildup that saw Diaz tangle with sports officials over the composition of his support team shortly after the Asiad triumph - and later get stranded in Malaysia owing to the stringent travel restrictions enforced worldwide at the onset of the pandemic.
But just as she had done at crucial points in a career that started inauspiciously as a teenager competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Diaz, a prayerful woman with an indomitable will, got back on her feet and got her act together.
The unplanned Malaysia stay turned into a 16-month camp that was the most focused Diaz ever was in any pre-Olympics buildup, thanks to her team made up of coach Gao Kaiwen, strength and conditioning coach Julius Naranjo, sports psychologist Dr. Karen Trinidad, and nutritionist Jeaneth Aro.
Collectively, this support team became known as Team HD, which laid down a battle plan for those historic final days of July that took care even of the minutest details, from her pre-competition meals to the worship songs on her playlist down to what Hidilyn would wear on on the day of the competition.
Team HD was, in turn, honored by SPIN.ph as its Team of the Year for 2021.
[See How talent, grit, science and a little mind game turned Hidilyn into gold]
The result was staggering as it was unprecedented, as Diaz outduelled Chinese world champion and record-holder Liao Qiuyun in a thrilling face-off at the Tokyo International Forum that wasn't decided until the final lift, when the Filipina did 127 kg in clean and jerk for the first time ever.
"Hindi ako makapaniwala," said the four-time Olympian, just moments after standing on the winners' podium in a snappy salute as the Philippine national anthem was played for the first time in a non-demonstration sport at an Olympic Games.
Girl Power
That gold medal provided the spark for what would end up as the nation's best and most prolific Olympics performance ever - one adorned by three more medals, including a silver by another woman in boxer Nesthy Petecio.
It also brought Diaz untold millions in incentives from a grateful nation - combining packages from both the government and the private sector,in case and in kind, the amount easily reached P50 milion.
The gold also elevated her to the pantheon of Philippine sports heroes as one of the greatest ever, right up there with the Pacquiaos and Elordes and Loyazagas.
The best part is, she isn't done yet.
Now 30 and engaged to newly installed head coach Julius Naranjo, Hidilyn remains motivated to gun for more glory. She is training relentlessly even after being forced to skip the last world championships due to injury and has shown no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
What keeps her motivated is the Paris Olympics, which happens in two years. By which time Diaz would be 32 and for sure battling a vengeful Liao as well as a new breed of challengers in defense of her Olympic gold medal.
Hidilyn being Hidilyn, never, ever count her out.
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