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Hidilyn Diaz – Her Olympic Gold Medal and her Miraculous Medal
Olympic champion and staunch Catholic
Hidilyn Diaz – Her Olympic Gold Medal and her Miraculous Medal
On the Olympic podium, where she was awarded the gold medal, Hidilyn Diaz, a Filipino athlete, wanted to show the world the miraculous medal she wore around her neck. Before warmly thanking the Virgin Mary for the journey traveled.
Before being an Olympic weightlifting champion, Hidilyn Diaz is principally a devout Christian. This is what she wanted to give witness to, on Monday, July 26, when receiving the highest award that can be given to an athlete competing in the Olympic Games.
The gold medal! Hours before her coronation, the 30-year-old Filipino, had broken the world record in the 55 kg weightlifting category, lifting a weight of almost 224 kg, four times her own weight.
At the medal ceremony, Hidilyn Diaz accepted the precious award ... but it was a whole different medal that she insisted on honoring. In front of cameras around the world, she wore her miraculous medal, the one that the Virgin Mary asked Saint Catherine Labouré to have struck, during the apparitions in the rue du Bac, in 1830.
The next day, the Philippine champion explained that this "other medal" had been given to her by a close friend, nine days before the start of the competition. “He recited a novena for nine days, and so did I. The victory is an answer to our prayers and our faith in our mother Mary, and her son Jesus Christ. I am grateful to everyone who prayed for me, and I guess it was thanks to God that I succeeded in this performance”, she added, before concluding with the words on the Filipino television channel, Cignal TV: “God is the greatest! "
