"The Olympics and weightlifting are not my everything" - Filipino weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz after failing to qualify for Paris Olympics 2024
2020 Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz has failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024 due to poor performance at the Olympic Qualifying Competition. After crashing out of the competition, the 33-year-old took to Facebook to share her thoughts. She wrote:
"The result was not according to what I wanted and planned. But Thy will be done. It was not my day and Paris 2024 is not for me."
The Filipino also congratulated weightlifters who qualified for the Paris 2024 Games and praised the weightlifters who put up a good show in the last Olympic Qualifying Competition. The Olympic champion wrote:
"Congratulations to all the weightlifters around the world who qualified in Paris 2024, especially the Filipino Athletes, and to the athletes who did their best in the last Olympic Qualifying Competition. We did great, we fought hard, and we did our best for our country."
Hidilyn Diaz was upset that she didn't make it to the Paris Olympics. However, she didn't lose hope and stated that she'll continue to lift weights, inspire, and help the country produce new Olympic champions.
"It’s the end of my #Paris2024 Olympic journey, I will still lift, continue to lift, and inspire young Filipino Athletes to become Olympic Champions," Hidilyn added in her Facebook post.
The Filipino weightlifter wanted to spend her time cooking and baking which she wanted to learn since she was 22. The 33-year-old athlete also stressed on the importance of how one should enjoy the process alongside working hard and spoke of how she sacrificed a lot of her time to train and get better at the sport.
She also stated that 'winning is not everything' and there might be good and bad days for the athletes. Hidilyn Diaz was also happy with the fact that she inspired many athletes and asked them to work hard and never give up on achieving their dreams.
"The Olympics and weightlifting are not my everything. I sacrificed a lot of my time to train and sometimes I forget to enjoy the process because I am caught with the high expectations and high pressure of being an elite athlete. This moment is for me to learn new skills - join classes and workshops to learn to cook and bake. I have long wanted to take culinary courses since I was 22 years old, and now, I will not just imagine doing pasta, pizza, and kare-kare, I will bake and cook some for my friends and family," she concluded by saying.
Hidilyn Diaz - Performance at the Olympics
The Filipino weightlifter has represented her nation in four consecutive editions of the Olympics. She made her debut in the 58kg category at the 2008 Olympics and finished 11th.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Diaz failed in Clean & Jerk and was thus eliminated from the 58kg category as she did not finish the event.
She came back stronger during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics as she finished with a silver medal. The weightlifter competed in the 53kg category and lifted a total of 200kg (88kg in Snatch and 112k in Clean & Jerk) to end the Philippines' 20-year-long wait for a medal at the Olympics.
In the following edition, Hidilyn Diaz created history by becoming the first Filipino athlete to win a gold medal since their maiden appearance in the tournament in 1924.
The star weightlifter competed in the 55kg category at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. She lifted a total of 224kg (97kg in Snatch and 127kg in Clean & Jerk) to win the gold medal and create an Olympic Record.