OLYMPIC gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz leads the three other Tokyo medalists in a Thanksgiving Mass today, Wednesday, at the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Tagaytay City.
Diaz has long been home since winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal–in the women’s 55kgweightlifting in Tokyo last July 26–to spark what turned out as the country’s most successful Olympic campaign in close to a century.
Boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam clinched silver medals in women’s featherweight and men’s flyweight, while Eumir Felix Marcial contributed a bronze in men’s middleweight as the 19-athlete delegation returned home with four medals.
“We wish to thank the Almighty for our success in the Tokyo Olympics. First and foremost, we look at the medals as gifts from God,” Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said.
Cavite Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista will officiate the Holy Mass starting at 11 a.m.
Only the medalists and their coaches and a handful POC and national sports association officials are set to jointhe ceremony because of travel restrictions under the ongoing enhanced community quarantine.
The boxers and coaches arrived a day after the Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony on Aug. 8 and were quarantined at the Summit Ridge in Tagaytay and Hotel Sofitel in Pasay City.
