Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz may soon have another reason to celebrate. In a recent Instagram post, she shared that she was looking forward to "much needed family time."
"Du’n tayo sa FOREVER. God and Family are Forever!!! Ninong @iamnoelferrer , countdown na po to your apo!!! #ForeverGrateful," she captioned her IG carousel.
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This positivity comes after news broke that Hidilyn might lose out on her shot at competing for a second Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024.
READ: Hidilyn's performance during the IWF World Cup 2024 in Phuket, Thailand
On Wednesday, April 3, Hidilyn and fellow Filipina athlete Elreen Ando competed in the women's 59kg weightlifting division at the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Cup 2024 in Phuket, Thailand. This event was the last qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Elreen, a Southeast Asian Games champion hailing from the University of Cebu, lifted a total of 228kg, surpassing Hidilyn's 222kg. She placed 7th overall in the event while Hidilyn finished at 11th.
Following these results, Elreen is expected to finish in the Top 10 of the Olympic Qualification Ranking (OQR) at the end of April, pending official word from the IWF.
As Spin.ph reports, according to the Olympic qualification procedure, only one athlete per NOC (National Olympic Committee) is eligible to be in the OQR, which is the highest-ranked athlete per NOC. This means that Hidilyn now faces the possibility of missing out on the Paris Olympics altogether.
Both Hidilyn and Elreen shifted weight divisions when their weight classes were scrapped in the Paris Olympics. Hidilyn won the Philippines' first Olympic gold during the XXXXX in the 55kg weight class, while Elreen had a seventh-place debut in the 64kg event of the Tokyo Games. This forced them to compete for an Olympic spot against each other at the 59kg weight division.
Julius Naranjo shares a lengthy message of support for Hidilyn Diaz on Instagram
ICYDK, Julius Naranjo is both Hidilyn's coach and husband. On Friday, April 5, he shared a lengthy and sentimental message of support for Hidilyn's weightlifting journey on Instagram. Dubbing it his "Coaches Corner," Julius spoke about the most recent significant date in their lives: "April 3rd, 2024 marks the end of a long but incredible journey of @hidilyndiaz and her goal to qualify for her 5th consecutive Olympics. Here’s the 99kg Snatch and the 123kg Clean And Jerk Haidie was able to hit."
"One may say it was a failure, but we cannot take away the incredible strength and perseverance it takes to come back from injury in Qatar, and to have spent more than two decades in the sport, winning a [silver medal] in Rio 2016 and a [gold medal] in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021," he continued.
Julius revealed that this journey was filled with many ups and just as many downs, but through it all he learned so much about himself and how much he loves the sport—including what it takes to become a champion.
Julius also opened up about Hidilyn's future in the sport: "It’s not the end of her weightlifting career as we still do have competitions to look forward to. But seeing the kids get inspired and to be at the highest level, whilst sharing our experience, drives us towards our next journey."
Continuing in the comments, he wrote: "I am grateful for this Olympic qualification journey is over, I’m looking forward to the next competitions for haidie, our grassroots, and all the athlete’s I work with abroad. I will continue to work harder to be a better coach & leader for the academy." For the love of weightlifting, indeed!
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Julius and Hidilyn tied the knot on July 26, 2022. The bride wore a stunning off-shoulder mermaid-cut Francis Libiran gown and the couple looked incredibly happy on their special day.
