Mareng Diay

“Striving to be the best is a mistake. It creates an illusion of an endpoint – and a delusion that you can only succeed by beating others. Striving to be better shifts the focus from victory to mastery. You’re competing with your past self and raising the bar for your future self.” – Adam Grant

There would be no Golden Age of Philippine sports without Lydia de Vega. Asia’s fleet-footed goddess was born from a restrictive atmosphere, where her overprotective father, later her coach, only allowed her to walk the short distance from house to school, school to house, no further. She burst into our consciousness as the pretty, tall, athletic hero of the sprints, inspiring a generation of young girls to become runners. She conquered Asia, and Filipino hearts for well over a decade.

What people do not know was the number of times Lydia ran under imperfect circumstances. She ran when she was injured, when she had menstrual cramps, away from her family. Even when the media prematurely dubbed her over the hill and on the way out, she ran and won. De Vega was the face of Philippine athletics, come hell or high water, the darling of Project: Gintong Alay (before the Philippine Sports Commission was launched in 1990). When everyone tried to stir up rivalry, she chose to focus on herself, on being stronger and faster. Personalities would come and go; bettering herself was enduring.

This writer had the privilege of covering some of De Vega’s feats, working the SEA Games with her, calling her kumare. In 1995 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the Philippine broadcast team was having trouble getting our accreditation at the media center. Lydia, who had just cut her hair short, walked in wearing large sunglasses. When she took them off, a murmur of recognition that turned into a buzz of excitement went through the organizers. They just said “Lydia!” Instantly, the entire group received our access passes. A few days later, while we were covering the walkathon, Diay innocently exclaimed how painful the event was for the butt. Not something your traditional sports broadcaster would have thought of, but very real, and very Lydia.

For roughly two decades, Diay has lived successfully coaching students in Singapore. In our interview for “The Philippines Yearbook 50 Greatest Filipino Athletes of All Time” three years ago, she joked that it was her turn to do the yelling. Life remained very simple, very purposeful for her. She was contented. She was also sick with cancer. But as always, she kept her private life, private. De Vega quietly returned to the country to deal with her illness on her own terms.

Over the weekend, Lydia underwent tracheotomy and paracentesis, two significant surgeries. A tracheotomy is a surgical procedure to open a hole in the windpipe for a patient who is no longer able to breathe on their own, or whose muscles are too weak to. In emergency situations when someone is choking, a hole is made near the base of the throat. In paracentesis or “abdominal tap,” a thin needle is inserted into the abdomen to drain fluid from the peritoneal cavity, where the stomach, intestines and liver are found. In a photo posted by her daughter, volleyball player Steph Mercado de Koenigswarter, all that we can see are the end of Lydia’s bed, machines, nine intravenous tubes, and those famous feet that raced to glory thousands of times under the Philippine flag.

Our hero needs our help and our prayers. This is one race we can run hand in hand with her. Lydia de Vega gave us hope innumerable times. Now we have a chance to return the favor.