HIDILYN Diaz will have no Christmas break as she chases her Olympic dream. BOB DUNGO JR. @tribunephl_bob

There will be no Christmas break for three-time Olympian Hidilyn Diaz as she continues her rigorous training towards her journey to seek the country’s elusive first gold medal in the Olympic Games next year in Tokyo.

Diaz, who recently won the gold medal in the 55kg women’s weightlifting event in the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, said she doesn’t want to waste any time as she prepares for two more Olympic qualifying events early next year.

“Before qualifying for the Olympics, we must first compete in six qualifications in 18 months. Now, I have remaining two qualifications left for next year,” said Diaz, the 2016 Summer Olympics silver medalist in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

And surely, there are things that she needs to sacrifice in order to reach her dream of giving the country its first Olympic gold medal.

“It’s not easy to qualify in the Olympics. There is no easy way. We have to give up everything just for the sake of training. I really need to focus,” Diaz said.

“Trainings will push through. We need to go on and train regardless of the celebrations,” the 28-year old Zamboanga native added.

“Just like my previous isolation training in Taiwan, we have to drop everything and stick to an eat-train-sleep and eat-train-sleep-massage routine.”

Part of her sacrifices is skipping the family celebration during the Christmas break and turning down the invites of her friends.

“I just really need to sacrifice some things. It’s understandable but of course you will also feel sad,” she said. “I will not be heading back to my hometown in Zamboanga to celebrate Christmas, and I hope I can survive those kinds of sacrifices.”

The Filipina weightlifter mentioned that her first mission next year is to top the Weightlifting World Cup in Rome followed by the Asian Championships in Kazakhstan in April 2020.

After competing in those qualifiers, her total points and world ranking will determine if she will be given a slot in the Tokyo Olympics.

“After those events, I think they will announce the shortlist for Olympic-bound weightlifters on 30 May,” Diaz said.

“They will be getting top 12 in the world because there are still other continental qualifying events and wild card slots to be given.”

Now that the stakes are getting higher as the world’s most anticipated sporting event gets nearer, Diaz cannot deny that expectations are also getting higher.

“There is pressure, and it’s so high. Everyone has high expectations for me, even my coach,” she said.

“I need to sharpen my techniques further. I am already in a great position and I do not want to take it for granted.”