When Hidilyn Diaz lifted the Philippines to its first Olympic gold medal, there was an outpouring of support on social media. Filipinos everywhere, as well as brands, media, and sports institutions declared: “Mabuhay ang atletang Pinay,” “girl power,” “the future is female.”
As we continue to celebrate the wins of Filipina athletes like Diaz and her contemporaries like Alex Eala, Gilas Pilipinas Women, and the Philippine Women’s National Football Team, it’s worth asking: how do we turn those declarations of support into long-term concrete action?
Let’s look at lessons from the journey of Diaz herself.
1. Women know what they need. More people need to listen.
It takes a village to win gold, and Diaz credits “Team HD”—a team of experts from different disciplines that supported her training, nutrition, and mental health so she can focus on her performance.
In an exclusive interview on my podcast “Go Hard Girls,” Diaz said: ‘Yung pressure sa akin sobrang taas. Every time na maglaro, ‘O, kailangan gold ka ah.’ I have to meet the expectations by having the team behind me. Hindi ko naman kayang isipin kung anong kakainin ko, pag-aralan ko ba ‘yan? Kung may mga problem ako sa focus, may problem ako sa mind setting, ireresearch ko pa ba yan? Ang daming books! Tapos kung sa strength and conditioning naman, paano ko ireresearch yun? Ang daming body parts na pag-aaralan.”
An athlete has limited time and energy, Diaz reminds us. And so we need to build systems by which experts can provide them with the support they need.
However, sports fans will remember how Diaz had to fight hard to form “Team HD.” In 2019, local officials publicly questioned her wanting to hire Julius Naranjo — a professional strength and conditioning coach, former member of the Guam national weightlifting team, and her boyfriend at the time (now her husband!). On social media, one official implied that if Naranjo truly loved her, he would work for free.
Diaz held firm. She had gotten as far as silver; gold would require taking support to the next level. Later, she was able to assemble the team she wanted with the support of the MVP Sports Foundation: “Binigay nila lahat,” she said. Diaz was right, and looking back, it’s chilling to think of what would have happened if she simply gave up when people did not want to listen to her needs. It shouldn’t have to be an uphill battle for her, nor for our other Pinay athletes. Supporting women starts with listening to women.
2. Invest in the pipeline.
It’s easy to invest in women like Diaz once they win gold, but if we want to develop more medalists, brands and institutions need to support girls at every step of the journey with grassroots programs, free youth camps, and equal sponsorship opportunities for girls as are available to boys.
One of Diaz’ advocacies is to get more kids into weightlifting. For that to happen, she says, we need to include the sport in our Palarong Pambansa and school-based leagues.
“Kung maipasok ang weightlifting sa Palarong Pambansa, sa NCAA, sa UAAP, malaking bagay ‘yun para sa akin. Kasi meaning, kung aalis ako, maganda ang naibigay ko sa sports ng weight lifting. Maganda ‘yung oportunidad na ibibigay sa mga atletang papasok sa weight lifting kasi makapag-aral sila, mabigyan ng oportunidad makapag-aral sa magagandang school na via weightlifting,” Diaz told me on the podcast.
She added: “Sana ma-continue ‘yung legacy na naidala ng Team HD, ma-duplicate ‘yun. Sana mapakinggan kung ano talaga pangangailangan ng isang athleta — more on good governance sa sports.”
3. Hiring women in leadership is a form of investment.
We know this from the corporate world, and it’s true in sports as well: investing in gender-balanced leadership pays exponential gains. When we have women in leadership positions, programs are better designed to fit women’s needs, policies are more easily put in place to protect women from harassment and discrimination, and women’s concerns are more easily raised and addressed.
This is one key growth area Diaz hopes our sports industry can pay attention to.
“[Sa weightlifting,] female athletes meron. Pero female national coach, wala. Female national officials, wala. Then, female national technical officials, wala. So I’m hoping na, hindi lang sa atleta, ‘di ba? Kailangan may participation ng kababaihan, sa sports officials, sa technical officials, sa coaches. Kasi paano makakaintindi ang coaches sa isang babae kung walang magsasabi or magfifeedback na babae?” she explains.
This isn’t just true in weightlifting, but across many NSAs, as well as amateur leagues like the UAAP and NCAA. Just take a look at the annual group photo of school representatives and management committee members at the UAAP and NCAA press conferences. How many women do you see?
Filipina athletes like Diaz have made huge strides in recent years, but we’ve still got a lot of room to grow towards a truly equitable and empowering sports industry for women and girls. The potential is there—it’s up to us to take the next step.