HANOI — It's mission accomplished for Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz in the 31st Southeast Asian Games after she successfully defended her gold medal in the women's 55kg event at the National Training Center here on Friday.
Against a field that included a fellow Olympic champion (albeit in a lighter weight division), the Zamboanga native was able to blow the competition away with one good lift in the clean and jerk to register 114kg to leapfrog her competitors to first place.
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But now, Diaz faces a new and more daunting challenge: qualifying for her fifth straight Summer Olympics in Paris 2024.
At 31, Diaz looks to continue breaking barriers for Philippine sports and repeat what she did in the SEA Games at the Olympics — that is, to win back-to-back gold medals.
"It's exciting and a little bit challenging to qualify again in Paris," Diaz told reporters after her SEA Games win.
"But I will do my best, together with Team HD to qualify and win again the gold medal," she added.
Diaz's goal is unprecedented in Philippine sports history as it took 97 years of the country participating in the Olympics before any Filipino won an Olympic gold medal.
But after making history in Japan last year, who can say that Diaz can't do it all over again in France?
Her first step in trying to qualify for the Games anew will be later this year in the IWF World Championships.