Hello. I’m Delfin Dioquino, a Rappler sports reporter. I usually refrain from calling myself a “journalist” whenever someone asks what I do for a living because I feel like that title is for those who report on things that truly matter — those who tackle social issues and amplify the voice of the marginalized.
Sports, after all, seems so trivial when we talk about poverty, crime, and corruption.
But I’ve realized that sports also impact lives. Take weightlifting heroine Hidilyn Diaz, for example. Hidilyn ended the Philippines’ near-century-long quest for an Olympic gold medal as she emerged victorious in the Tokyo Games in 2021. Her victory lifted the spirit of a nation grappling with the challenges of the pandemic, and inspired a new generation of Filipino athletes.
I could not help but cry as I watched Hidilyn lift her final clean-and-jerk attempt that allowed her to beat out China’s Liao Qiuyun, the reigning women’s 55kg world champion and world record holder at the time, for the gold by a mere kilogram.
Four years after Tokyo, Hidilyn’s triumph remains relevant.
Thanks to Hidilyn’s influence, weightlifting returned to the Palarong Pambansa this year as a demo sport, a welcome development for those who seek to follow in her footsteps. Sixteen-year-old Cristelle Sarcauga, one of Hidilyn’s students at her HD Weightlifting Academy in Jala-Jala, Rizal, who went on to top the secondary girls’ 53+kg division for Calabarzon, told Rappler that she has found refuge and a career path in the sport.
Looking back, would there still be an HD Weightlifting Academy if Hidilyn did not win? And would Cristelle still have aspired to be a weightlifter?
Hidilyn gifted the country not only the elusive Olympic gold but also the belief that Filipinos are capable. Even gymnastics star Carlos Yulo drew inspiration from Hidilyn as he redeemed himself from a disappointing Tokyo campaign, making history in the Paris Games last year as the Philippines’ first double Olympic gold medalist.
I sat down with Caloy for a Rappler Talk a couple of months before Paris and he said then that he was more prepared and more experienced than he was in Tokyo, signifying his readiness for a shot at an Olympic medal. While I always believed Caloy was ripe for Olympic success, chronicling him winning two Olympic gold medals was the stuff of dreams.
What Hidilyn was to Caloy then, he is now to up-and-coming athletes.
National Capital Region sprinter Cris Ivan Domingo, another Palarong Pambansa standout who swept the gold medals in the elementary boys’ 100m, 200m, and 400m events, said he aims to replicate Caloy’s Olympic feats.
“I want to make it to the Olympics. I want to be like Carlos Yulo,” said Domingo in Filipino.
Covering the Superstar
Now that our sports team has crossed over with lifestyle and entertainment under the Rappler Life banner, which consists of all the soft sections, including technology, I also got to witness how much artists and celebrities mean to their fans, particularly when I was tasked to cover the public viewing of the late Nora Aunor in April.
Aunor touched the lives of countless Noranians that they came in droves to pay the Superstar their last respects, notwithstanding the heat and the long lines, which were serious factors given that most of her supporters are now senior citizens.
The fans, who travelled from different parts of the country, all had the same things to say about Aunor, that she was kind, generous, and humble.
“Even when she was young, she would ask us not to call her ‘Superstar.’ She would say, ‘I’m just like you.’ She was very natural, a true Filipino,” said 80-year-old Editha Salcedo Rodriguez.
It was a coverage that felt foreign but at the same time familiar — that whether in sports or in entertainment, people from different walks of life find a common ground and the people we look up to shape us.
Soft news, in many ways, is no different from hard news as we write stories about people’s experiences, which range from inspiring to heartbreaking, hoping to effect change.
I still find it inapt calling myself a “journalist,” but knowing that our work also carries weight is enough for me.
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