The 27-year-old lifter slash airforce service woman got her gold medal on Tuesday (21/8) in the women's 53-kilogram weightlifting at the JI Expo Convention Center in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
Diaz scored a total of 207 kg, of which 92 kilograms from snatch and 115 kg from clean and jerk.
This is the first gold medal for the Philippines in this year Asiad, and it's worth PHP6 million cash (~USD112,000).
She will get PHP2 million from each of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the government through Republic Act 10699, which expands the coverage of incentives granted to national athletes and coaches. The Philippine ambassador to Indonesia Lee Hiong Wee and the Siklab Foundation each have also pledged PHP1 million to every Filipino, gold winner. She will be likely to receive more rewards when she gets back home.
Her victory is widely celebrated by the Philippines. Duterte congratulated her at a gathering of Visayas local chief executives in Cebu City the same night of her win. The President met Diaz in August 2016 when she made history as the first Filipino woman and Mindanaoan to win a silver medal in the Olympic Games.
Asiad seemed to be her one of her warm-ups before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, in which she set her sight on to turn her Rio 2016 silver into a gold medal.
"I am grateful to God that He granted what all of us Filipinos have wished for," she said. "It can be done—an Olympic gold can be won."
Currently, she's trained under the supervision of top Chinese coach Gao Kaiwen, who is also the head coach of the Chinese national women's army team. Gao has successfully coached Chinese weightlifters to get a medal in Olympics, one of whom is Zhou Lulu, who in 2012, took home the gold in the 75kg+ category.
"He changed my technique, and more than that made me understand why I need to make the change if I want to win Tokyo 2020," said Diaz, who reveals that she misses eating cheesecake and drinking bubble tea with friends because she's abstaining from sugar and sweets.
She further said that the change in technique boost her confidence to win the gold medal in the Olympics. Best of luck, Diaz!
Source: The Jakarta Post (Triono Subagyo), CNN Philippines, Rappler, Philstar, GMA News Online