TOKYO - Hidilyn Diaz made history when she gave the Philippines its first Olympic gold medal on Monday night, beating China's world champion and record holder Liao Qiuyun in a thrilling face-off at the Tokyo International Forum.
With hard rock music blaring in the background and every single one inside the stadium on the edge of their seats, the 30-year old from Zamboanga lifted an Olympic record 127 kilograms in her third and final lift to win the gold with a 224 total.
A small contingent of Filipinos in the crowd broke into cheers, some shedding tears, when it dawned on them that the country's 97-year wait for an Olympic gold medal had ended in this most unusual of editions of the Summer Games.
That long, long wait was ended by the audacious Diaz, who gave the country a breakthrough silver medal for women athletes four years ago in Rio de Janeiro and stopped at nothing to deliver gold this time.