Breathing fire
Jamie Christine Lim shows her gold medal she won in Karatedo +61 Kumite with her Mom Darlene Marie Berberabe during the awarding ceremony held at World Trade Center in Pasay City.
EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER
Jamie Lim stomped her feet and let out a scream after scoring a point against Indonesia’s Zeyco Sefanya.
She couldn’t believe it. It was the point she needed to get ahead of her foe, 2-1. It was also the one she needed to secure a Southeast Asian Games gold—a feat she thought was unlikely this year.
“I thought after I graduated summa (cum laude), I wouldn’t be able to strike gold—like I’ve run out of luck for this year,” she told reporters after delivering another win for the Philippines in the SEA Games karate competition Monday at World Trade Center in Pasay. “But I’ve always imagined getting it.”
Her doubts were valid, for after all, she took a break from training to focus on her Mathematics degree. She only began preparing this July for the Games, something that put her at a disadvantage against “full-time athletes,” she said.
“I just became a full-time athlete roughly five months ago,” Lim added, her eyes still welling with tears.
If anything, the 22-year-old karateka has greatness in her DNA—literally.
Her father, basketball great Samboy, was a SEA Games gold medalist in 1983. During his playing years, the daredevil cager was known for his high-wire act and bore the monikers “Skywalker” and “The Dragon.” Jaime’s mother, Darlene, majored in Philosophy at University of the Philippines and graduated summa cum laude in 1989.
“The summa is for my mom and the SEA Games gold is for my dad,” she said, referring to her father, who has been bedridden for more than two years now after a massive stroke.
“This took hard work, focus, and discipline,” Lim said. “Everything that I saw from my parents.”
And boy, were those evident on the tatami.
Lim handily beat Malaysia’s Audrey Japyus in the quarterfinals, 7-3, and then Vietnam’s Thi Thao Bui, 5-1, in the penultimate round.
By the time the last match got going, she was not only oozing with confidence. She was also certain.
Lim went for Sefanya’s head early to gain a, pardon the pun, head start. Then she bided her time before uncorking a flurry of attacks to gain her second point.
“I look up to my mom and dad so much,” she said. “So to even come close to [Samboy]? To be compared to him and mom?”“I can’t believe that both happened this year. The timing is just perfect for me. I’m so grateful,” Lim added. INQ
