- Hidilyn Diaz on daytime TV show ASAP
Diaz was selected as a wild card entry to the Summer Olympics by the Philippine Weightlifting Association in early 2008. Diaz placed second to last in a field of 12 weightlifters, her performance was praised and considered promising for her age.
During the 2012 London Olympics, Diaz was chosen to be the flagbearer during the Opening Ceremony.She was one of two competitors (along with Lina Rivas of Colombia) to end with an official result of "Did not finish" (DNF) in the event.
In the Asian Weightlifting Championships, Diaz copped a gold medal in 2015 and a bronze medal in 2016.[13] She also earned three bronze medals for the clean, jerk and snatch events in the 53 kg division of the IWF World Weightlifting Championship held in Houston, Texas on November 22, 2015 to claim a spot in the 2016 Rio Olympics
In the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro she won a silver medal, the first medal for the Philippines in the Summer Olympics after 20 years
In the women's 53 kg in the 2018 Asian Games, Diaz had a total lift of 207 kg, beating Turkmenistan's Kristina Shermetova (206 kg) and Thailand's Surodchana Khambao (201 kg) to deliver the Philippines' first gold in the 2018 games,[38][40] as well as the first Filipino weightlifter of any gender to win a gold medal in the Asian Games.
After winning a bronze in the 2017 World Championships, Diaz again got a bronze in the 2019 edition of the same event. She also won a silver in the 2019 Asian Championship, and another gold in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila.
In January 2020, Diaz won the gold medal in the women's 55kg event at the Roma 2020 World Cup in Rome, Italy.
On July 26, 2021, Diaz won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[43] This was the first ever gold medal won by a Filipino athlete since the country's first appearance in the Olympics in 1924.[44] She set new Olympic weightlifting records by lifting 127kg in the Clean and Jerk and lifting a total weight of 224 kg.