MANILA — Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo spearheaded the groundbreaking ceremony of the soon-to-be-built HD Weightlifting Academy on Sunday in Jala-Jala, Rizal.

The weightlifter, who is expected to compete in next year’s Paris Olympic Games, bared that this training facility is not only for her personal goals but is also her way of giving back to the country and its young athletes.

“This is just so important to me,” the first and only Filipino Olympic gold medalist penned on her Instagram account. “As I prepare for Paris 2024, I have a place to train together with the kids who dream to be in the national team, be a world champion and Olympic medalist.”

Her husband and coach Julius Naranjo also shared snaps of them unveiling the HDWLA Outreach Program that will work hand in hand with their goal of supporting weightlifting hopefuls on his own IG account.

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A post shared by Julius Irvin 光る Naranjo 🇬🇺🇵🇭🇯🇵 (@imjulius)

“This has been Hidilyn Diaz’s dream to give back to weightlifting, for me to continue to give back to the Philippines and find myself as a Filipino,” Naranjo wrote.

In the meantime, however, Diaz-Naranjo’s focus is to ramp up her training as she hopes to compete in her fifth straight Olympic games and bring home yet another medal for the country.

“We can’t wait to see, hopefully, after four months, from the temporary gym to our soon-to-be training camp preparing for the Paris Olympics, and joining us the soon-to-be weightlifting champions!” Diaz-Naranjo said.

• Diaz pleased by her progress despite missing Asiad podium

She recently finished fourth in the 59kg division of weightlifting in the 19th Asian Games in China last month.