In Pictures: Meet Hidilyn Diaz - the Philippines' first ever Olympic gold medal winner

Until Monday, the Philippines, a sports-mad country of nearly 110 million people, had never won an Olympic gold medal.

But Hidilyn Diaz, a weightlifter at her fourth Olympics, finally broke the Philippines’ nearly century-long drought by capturing a gold in the women’s 55kg division, achieving two Olympic records in the process.

“It’s unbelievable,” she said, caressing the gold medal hanging on her neck. “I expected to win, but when you hold this already, it’s like, Wow, I never thought this would happen.”

Diaz, 30, said that her record-breaking 127kg lift in the clean and jerk event was the first time she had successfully hefted that much weight.

Her father expressed his delight as Diaz's family crowed on to the porch back home on the Philippines to watch her victory.

She also claimed another Olympic record for the total of her two best lifts, one in the snatch and the other in the clean and jerk.

Diaz is already a celebrity in Zamboanga in the south of the Philippines, but her victory has catapulted to national and global fame.

Diaz won silver at Rio, but the sky is the limit now she is the first Filipino to get gold around their neck.

Diaz has been elevated to the sporting celebrity status reserved for Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, and she is already making plans for Paris 2024.