MANILA, Philippines – At long last, the Philippines has another Olympic medalist.
On Sunday, August 7 (Monday morning, August 8 in Manila), Hidilyn Diaz of Zamboanga City ended the country's 20-year medal drought in the Summer Olympic Games after clinching the silver medal in the women's 53kg weightlifting event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
(READ: Rio 2016: Hidilyn Diaz)
Diaz recorded a total weight of 200kg, just behind the 212kg of Chinese-Taipei's Hsu Shu-Ching.
Even if the competition happened in the wee hours of the morning in the Philippines, Filipinos still managed to tune in to Diaz's battle for an elusive Olympic medal and showed support for the 25-year-old weightlifter.
Shortly after her victory, Hidilyn Diaz quickly topped the Philippine Twitter trending topics. Congratulatory posts and appreciation tweets soon flooded on social media.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PHI?src=hash">#PHI</a> Hidilyn Diaz wins a silver medal in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rio2016?src=hash">#Rio2016</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OlympicGames?src=hash">#OlympicGames</a>! <a href="https://t.co/v1rxkuL6vn">https://t.co/v1rxkuL6vn</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/weightlifting?src=hash">#weightlifting</a> <a href="https://t.co/hR9URfGnJI">pic.twitter.com/hR9URfGnJI</a></p>— Rappler Sports (@RapplerSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapplerSports/status/762376784079757312">August 7, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Check out some of the tweets below:
Hidilyn Diaz - Curated tweets by rapplerdotcom
What do you think about Hidilyn Diaz's historic silver medal finish? Let us know in the comments section or write about it on X. – Rappler.com