Lydia de Vega. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO.
It was hard to tell from the tone of her voice what saddened Lydia de Vega-Mercado more: That some fishy news site was spreading a hoax about her supposed death or looking at Southeast Asian Games reports and finding the Philippines mired near the bottom of the medal standings.
“It’s sad to watch the country fall so low,” the legendary trackster told the Inquirer in a phone interview Wednesday.
This from someone who spent the day putting out fires of concern that came from a news report detailing her death.
“I don’t know how they can write something like that; I hope that person learns his lesson because that wasn’t a funny joke,” she said.
Mercado is currently coaching in Singapore, earning a living for her family. But she hopes she can be of help to the country’s current national athletes because she senses a certain disquiet among them.
They just cannot voice it out for fear of having their “national” status taken away from them.
“Athletes really need that voice so if they have some concerns or suggestions to help their respective NSAs (National Sports Associations) they won’t live in fear that they will be booted out of the national team,” Mercado said in Filipino. “I hope the communication line is always open between the athletes, the officials, and whoever is involved.”
Once Asia’s fastest woman, Mercado said it pains her to see Philippine sports fall so low in the Southeast Asian Games. The country has never made it past the fifth spot after reigning as overall champions in the 2005 Manila edition.
In Kuala Lumpur this year, the Philippines limped to its poorest share of gold medals at 24 in the biennial meet.
“That’s too few gold medals for the amount that we spent. We haven’t improved at all,” said Mercado, who won nine gold medals in the SEA Games and two in the Asian Games. Her SEA Games record in the 100-meter dash still stands 30 years later when she clocked 11.28 seconds in the 1987 edition. “There’s a problem we have to address so we can improve our position at least in the SEA Games.”
She doesn’t blame the athletes, though. The former sprint queen knows all of the 498 Filipino athletes that went to Kuala Lumpur wanted to go home with a gold medal slung over their necks.
“I know all those athletes gave their 100 percent,” said Mercado.
“But our officials always put politics in sports. They’re the ones always fighting among themselves. In the end, it’s the athletes who suffer. There’s so much we have to change to improve sports in the Philippines.”
Necessity drove Mercado away from the country. There is hardly any position for a person of her caliber in Philippine sports, at least one that can help her support her family. But she is itching to come back and help Philippine sports rise again.
“I really hope to get the chance to serve the country again,” Mercado said. “A lot of us retired athletes want to do just that. But there’s very little opportunities for us to earn a living in the Philippines. Some of us have to work in the US. Me, I have to work here in Singapore.”
“But given the right opportunity, I hope to help Philippine sports and maybe I can be a voice for the athletes who are afraid to speak their mind out.”