Young Central Visayas gymnast, winner of 5 Palaro golds, dreams of Olympics

AGUSAN DEL SUR, Philippines – Central Visayas gymnast Aziz Jayden Diaz trains like no ordinary young athlete.

Only nine years old, Diaz starts his day with a 30-minute jog, sometimes as early as 5 am. He then does pull-ups and push-ups to make sure he develops his arms and core, goes to school, attends gymnastics training, returns home, and sleeps. 

So it’s no wonder why Diaz swept all individual events in the artistic gymnastics elementary boys’ division (Cluster 1) of the 2026 Palarong Pambansa here, romping his way to five gold medals. 

The pride of University of Southern Philippines Foundation won the individual all-around, floor exercise, vault, horizontal bar, and mushroom.

Diaz also helped Central Visayas snare silver in the team all-around event, where he and his teammates finished second to powerhouse National Capital Region. 

Sure, the Palaro is important to Diaz, but he trains persistently for a bigger goal.

“I feel happy and I want to say that I want to be the next Olympian,” Diaz told Rappler. 

“Every day it’s hard and I feel tired,” he added. “In my brain, I want to be an Olympian. Olympians don’t give up fast.” 

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Diaz began his gymnastics journey in Catbalogan, Samar, when he was just five following a switch from taekwondo. 

That sport has taken him to Cebu City and he has not looked back since. 

“I fell in love [with the sport] because I was good at gymnastics. My mom said to continue with gymnastics because that’s the sport I’m good at,” said Diaz.

Diaz dreams to follow in the footsteps of his gymnastics idol Carlos Yulo, the Philippines’ only Olympic double gold medalist.

“You have to keep on going and get more gold medals and be disciplined,” said Diaz when asked about his message to Yulo. – Rappler.com

المصدر: Rappler (PH)