Manila, Philippines, November 6, 2023: The Philippines’ Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games weightlifting champion, Hidilyn Diaz, is seeing her dream come true – to build a weightlifting academy for kids in her home country.
“This is it, the official groundbreaking of the HD Weightlifting Academy at Jala-jala, Rizal,” Diaz posted on social media over the weekend.
“This is just so important to me, as I prepare for Paris 2024, I have a place to train together with the kids who dream to be in the national team, be a world champion and Olympic medalist.
“I want to thank all those who visited and helped us, our partners and our future partners. Thank you for making this possible and with the help of my husband/coach Julius Irvin Hikaru T. Naranjo, to our architects Jocelyn Francisco, UAP Architect Jose Miranda and UAP Frank Urcia.
“We can’t wait to see, hopefully, after four months, from the temporary gym to our soon-to-be training camp preparing for Paris Olympics, and joining us the soon-to-be weightlifting champions!”
Diaz became a national celebrity in the Philippines by winning her country’s first gold medal in Olympic Games history at Tokyo in the women’s weightlifting 55kg category.
Since then, she has moved up to 59kg and finished fourth in her new weight category at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
