The third day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was about to change Hidilyn's life. Five years of preparation, pain and patience came to an end.
The room was quiet as she approached the platform for her final lift. The leader after raising 126 kilogram was from China.
The man looked confident. It was focused. She spoke the personal slogan that had carried her through the competition so far: "Chest out." Lift. She had one last chance to make history for her country by winning the gold medal.
As the buzzer sounded to confirm a clean lift, she felt a rush of emotion across her face. She had been waiting for the victory for so long.
It had been a difficult journey for him. She encountered attitudes growing up. She was locked down in a foreign country for a year. She was named an enemy of the state in 2019.
David Nepomuceno, a sprinter, was the only athlete from the Philippines to compete in the Olympics in 1924.
The woman who won the Philippines' first Olympic gold, ending a 97-year dry spell, was born in the south of the country in 1991. While her mother was a full-time housewife, her father earned a living providing short-haul transport on a tricycle.
She was 11 when her cousin introduced her to weights.
No one will like you when you are older, my mum told me. The sport is for men. You will get big muscles and you won't get pregnant.
I still did it because I enjoyed it. When she saw how much I enjoyed it and the benefits it had, she started supporting me.
He was gifted. She was competing on the biggest stage within six years. She was 17 when she went to the Beijing Olympics, where she finished last in a field of 12.
She was the flagbearer at London 2012 but failed to lift her opening weight. Everyone had high hopes for the future.
The first Olympic medal won by a Filipino female was at Rio 2016 and it was the culmination of an athletic career and service in the Philippine Air Force.
She won gold and bronze at the Asian Games and the World Championships before Tokyo 2020.
There was a twist one year before the Games in Japan were due to take place.
There was a plot to oust the president of the country.
A bloody drug war and a string of sexist and offensive comments made by the Philippine president, who was elected in a 2016 landslide win, have attracted intense controversy.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court called for an investigation into suspected crimes against humanity during the drugs campaign.
The accusation levelled at Diaz in 2019 came as Salvador Panelo, the presidential chief legal counsel at the time, presented details of an alleged network of "enemy" individuals and organisations the government claimed were involved in an "attempt to discredit the Duterte administration". They called it the "Oust Duterte" matrix.
The group included members of the opposition political parties, celebrities and journalists.
It has been suggested that the reason she was included was because she was being followed on social media by Rodel Jayme, who was recently arrested for sharing online videos that claimed the drug trade was being dismantled.
It was all bemusing for him at first. She began to get abuse on social media. Those close to her were targeted.
She says that someone messaged her about it while she was in training.
They were saying bad things to my dad. I got hurt when they involved my family. I started crying after that.
People were messaging me on social media, saying bad things and bashing me, but I didn't know what was happening. I don't know what's going on and they were bashing me about something that isn't true.
I was busy preparing for the Olympics. I overcame it with the people who believed in me.
All of this took a toll on his mental health. And then came the flu.
In early 2020, when borders were shut and flights were canceled around the world, she and her team were stuck in Malaysia, with no indication as to when they could return home.
Julius Naranjo and his coach improvised a new programme using limited resources in Kuala Lumpur. They used the parking area as a gym and hung water bottles from bamboo sticks as weights.
The anxiety was so high. We thought it would last for a couple of weeks. I am from the Philippines. Guam and China are where my coaches are from. We did not know anyone in Malaysia.
The Tokyo Games would have to be delayed.
I felt like I couldn't do it because of the additional 12 months.
I would tell the sports psychologist how I was feeling when I talked to them. Take it one day at a time. I can control things, but I can't control anything else.
It all paid off the following summer.
I knew I would win. I have to believe that I can do it.
When I was in the competition, I felt like this was my day. I believe in God, I believe in my team, and I just need to believe in myself.
She was praised by the president she had been accused of scheming against after winning the gold medal. He didn't mention the accusation when he spoke with her. He encouraged him to let bygones be bygones.
There was a video call. We met him in theMalacanang Palace after that. Everyone is happy with the achievement of the Filipino athletes in the Tokyo Olympics.
There were claims of a conspiracy to oust the president. He is still in power. The constitution bars him from a second term, but he is not eligible to stand in the presidential elections. Ferdinand Marcos, the brutal dictator who was removed from power in 1986, is the son of the leading presidential candidate.
Nothing could have prepared them for how their lives would change.
She became a hero overnight. A law passed by the previous administration guaranteed a handsome sum of money to any Filipino who won an Olympic gold medal.
I felt like I was in the clouds after I won on Saturday. I was wondering if this was really the truth. Is this reality? I am the first gold medal winner. Me? Wow, just, wow.
Her public profile rocketed after big endorsement deals were waiting. She is in TV ads, social media campaigns and billboards. The Philippine Post Office honoured her with a set of stamps.
With the platform she now has, she intends to help break barriers and inspire other young girls to pursue their dreams.
She says that she grew up being paranoid because she got into sports.
They have someone to look at and say that big sister was the one who did it. I can do it as well.
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