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While 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz is everywhere as the country celebrates its first gold medal at the games, a netizen reminisced with her grandfather.
The latter is a former weightlifter and Philippine Air Force veteran.
Facebook user Shana Rocamora Ramirez introduced her grandfather, Artemio Rocamora, who was born in 1934. During his days, he participated in an Asian Championship where he won bronze and placed 19th during the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Now that he’s 87 years old, his grandaughter figured that she would give him the recognition he deserves.
“I am hoping to voice out his legacy since he is now too old. And as he saw Hidilyn Diaz compete and bring home the gold, he was so amazed,” Ramirez wrote.
She added that her grandfather could relate to Diaz’s struggle when it came to getting sponsors as, during his time, he also had to train while working for his family.
“We will never get tired of listening to his stories. Ang masakit na part lang, sana nabigyan din sila ng sapat na suporta at pagkilala noong panahon na binuhat din nila at dinala ang Pilipinas noon.”
It is known that Diaz’s journey to claiming the gold medal was not a smooth one as back in 2019. The athlete admitted that she’s having trouble with the finances while training for the Olympics.
In an Instagram Story, she wrote, “Is it okay to ask sponsorship sa mga private companies towards Tokyo 2020? Hirap na hirap na ko, I need financial support.”
She further said that she’s embarrassed to ask for donations, but she needed to do it for her dream to take home the gold in the Olympics.
On the other hand, the netizen also uploaded photos of his grandfather taken when he was competing. Newspaper clippings of Rocamora’s achievements can also be seen as well as a recent photo of the now-old athlete.
The post went viral as it has reached more than 36,000 shares on Facebook as of writing.
