TOKYO - If this will indeed be her Olympic swansong, Hidilyn Diaz vowed to go out with guns blazing.
The trailblazing Zamboanga weightlifter takes part in her fourth and likely final Olympic Games when she vies in the 55-kilogram division on Monday, looking for another medal to add to the historic silver she won four years ago in Rio.
Even before she makes her first lift at the Tokyo International Forum, there have already been a lot of speculations about the future of the 30-year old lifter who admirably carried the Olympics hopes of a nation for much of her adult life.
Now the focus of all the talk is on whether retirement is near - and on whether this will be her grand farewell in the biggest sports stage.
Hidilyn said she, too, isn't sure.
"Hindi ko pa din alam," she told reporters back home. "Ang masasabi ko lang, nakikita ko potential ko, malakas ako. Sayang naman kung mag-stop ako. Habang andito yung momentum, tuluy-tuloy lang. Habang nandito pa.”
At the top of her game
Amid all the retirement talk, however, her coaches insist Diaz is still at the top of her game as she once again takes on a field that includes Chinese world record-holder Liao Qiuyun, the consensus gold medal favorite.
“You will expect Hidilyn to lift weights that you’ve never seen before. She’s on track. She’s going to put on a show,” Julius Naranjo, Diaz’s strength and conditioning coach, said.
Naranjo assured Diaz has been setting new personal bests in the final stretch of her buildup, which he hopes the Filipino medal hope will mirror when she goes up the stage on Monday night in likely her Olympic swansong.
But win or lose, Diaz is secure in the legacy she will be leaving in Philippine sports.
“Maalala ng bansa yung mga pinagdaanan ko," she said. “Na may isang Hidilyn Diaz na Pilipina galing sa Zamboanga City, napatunayan niya na kahit galing sa hirap kaya mong manalo sa Olympics.”
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