Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz has bared that she was dating her coach, Filipino-Japanese Julius Naranjo.
In an episode of “Tunay na Buhay,” the two revealed their three-year relationship.
They had met at a competition in Turkmenistan in 2017 and the two have been together for three years now with Julius first becoming Hidilyn’s boyfriend before becoming her coach.
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“I was based in Guam when we met. I didn’t really know she was a Silver medalist,” Julius said. “I just thought it was great to meet people from the Philippines at a competition abroad.”
Hidilyn immediately caught his attention and he said she looked very “beautiful and couldn’t stop smiling.”
In 2018 as Hidilyn was planning to go to China to begin training for the Olympics Julius surprised her by telling her he intended to stay in Manila. She said, “ I asked him if he was crazy. He had a good life in Guam, why would he want to come here?”
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“Kahit exercise, sports major siya, naging coach siya, hindi aka basta-basta naniwala. Yung trust, it takes time,” Hidilyn said.
She described her boyfriend as very sweet. The two hardly go on dates now and look at their training session as a time they can be together. (AW)
