Hail Asia's queen of tracks

MANILA, Philippines - After paving the way for the first playing of the “Lupang Hinirang” in nearly 20 years at the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, sprint queen Lydia de Vega knew she was a marked woman in the succeeding edition in Seoul.

“I really prepared hard for that competition (1986 Asiad) because after New Delhi, I knew I had to defend my title and my rivals like PT Usha of India prepared as hard as myself,” said “Diay,” who trained for the Seoul AG at the Mt. San Antonio College in California.

Fighting off pressure and nerves, De Vega covered the century dash in 11.53 seconds, ahead of Usha (11.67) and everyone else, becoming the first woman to win back-to-back 100m gold medal in the Asiad.

She fell short of scoring a double, though, settling for silver (23.47) in the 200m to Usha’s 23.44. “I lost steam in the end but overall, it was a good performance for me, winning one gold and one silver, especially coming off a not-so-good performance in a previous competition,” said the Bulaceña.

She did pull off the double feat the next year, at the Asian championships.

That same year, 1987, also saw a milestone for “Diay” in the SEA Games. Not only did Asia’s sprint queen set a new SEA Games and Philippine record (11.28) in 100m and a Phl mark (23.35) in 200m, she also won a third gold at the unlikely place.

“I competed in long jump in the absence of Elma (Muros). I had speed and I knew how to do the long jump so I joined. I leapt 6.27 meters and actually broke Elma’s record at that time. I was so happy because I didn’t expect to win the gold and it was my first time at long jump,” she said.

One of Lydia’s most emotionally fulfilling triumphs came at the 1991 SEAG in Manila, where she swept the 100m and 200m.

“It was my comeback after laying off for two years to get married and give birth. I was like starting from zero when I trained again; it was so hard that I nearly quit, had it not for my father (the late Tatang de Vega).

“Critics also said I was already over-the-hill but that challenged me to carry on. I also had to deal with Achilles tendinitis and overcame my fear of needles to undergo acupuncture two days before the race. And all of it paid off when I won and everybody at the packed Rizal Stadium was cheering for me,” she said.

De Vega put on another gold-winning run in the 1993 SEAG in Singapore and finally called it quits afterwards. Interestingly, Singapore has been her “home” the past six years, working as coach for primary schools and that country’s national athletes with disabilities team.