DO we hear wedding bells for Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and her strength and conditioning coach/cum boyfriend Julius Naranjo?
Not quite yet.
Inasmuch as Diaz couldn’t immediately decide if she will return to defend her weightlifting gold medal in Paris three years from now, the athlete who changed the course of Philippine sports history is not about to tie the knot this soon with Naranjo.
Diaz admitted that she wants to get married but stressed it’s one decision she should deeply think about.
“I don’t know yet…but I’d like to get married,” Diaz, 30, told Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum. “It’s [getting married] no longer the question, but I have to take it seriously. It’s a long term plan because you’ll be with your partner forever.”
Diaz said she is a “very lucky woman” to have Naranjo as her partner.
“For me, I am lucky because he’s there for me, he supports me all the way,” she said. “He is a blessing from God.”
Naranjo, a former weightlifter who represented Guam, met Diaz during the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in 2017. In 2018, he became the gold medalist’s strength and conditioning coach.
“We’re friends first, then in 2017, we started our relationship,” Diaz said.
If Diaz isn’t getting married yet, Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial will—in December in Mindoro—with long-time girlfriend Princess Genniel Galarpe.
Marcial told the same forum that he’s excited about the forthcoming wedding and took the opportunity to invite in public Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez, who also graced the program.