THE LONG WAIT

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz in Tears After Winning Philippines’ First-Ever Gold Medal

Her country has competed in every Olympics since 1924 without ever winning a gold, so Hidilyn Diaz’ victory in the women’s 55kg was bound to be emotional.

A weightlifter from the Philippines burst into an Olympian flood of tears after winning her country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games. Hidilyn Diaz, a 30-year-old air force sergeant, lifted a record 224kg total in the women’s 55kg event, beating world-record-holder Liao Qiuyun of China by a single kilogram. Then the tears came: first after her final lift confirmed victory and then continuing on the podium as a masked Diaz belted out the words to the Philippine national anthem “Lupang Hinirang”—which means “chosen land” in Tagalog—behind her face mask. The Philippines has competed at every Olympics since 1924, except for the boycotted Moscow Olympics of 1980, but had previously never won more than silver.