LYDIA De Vega, once Asia's sprint queen and one of the greatest Filipino athletes of all time, passed away due to cancer on Wednesday. She was 57.
De Vega's daughter Stephanie Mercado de Koenigswarter confirmed the news on her social media accounts late Wednesday at the end of her mother's long battle with breast cancer.
Known as 'Diay' to her peers and fans, the comely Bulakenya rose to prominence in the 80s and established herself as one of the best Filipino track and field athletes ever, with her most of her records unbroken until only recently.
A product of the Gintong Alay program, De Vega was coached by her father Francisco or 'Tatang' and their efforts paid off when she captured the 1981 Southeast Asian Games gold in the 200-meter and 400-meter run at the tender age of 16.
[See Lydia De Vega in critical condition]
The father-and-daughter duo soon started collecting several medals for the Philippines. Her performance would level up in the 1982 and 1986 Asian Games where she took the gold in the 100-meter dash.
Even pregnancy couldn't stop her from achieving success. After taking a break, De Vega captured the gold medal in front of her countrymen at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, bagging the 1991 SEA Games crown in the 100-meter dash.
In the twighlight of her career, De Vega still won golds in the 100m and the 200m in the 1993 SEA Games in Singapore, one of the final competitions of her career.
[See Lydia De Vega dream to coach future Filipino world champions]
In total, she won nine gold medals at the SEA Games, two at the Asian Games, and four in the Asian Athletics Championship.
Some of her national records stood until recently when Kristina Knott broke her 33-year record in the 100-meter run of 11.28.
During and after her athletic career, De Vega also fought for the rights of athletes in different capacities. De Vega spent most of her retirement years in Singapore starting in 2005 where she taught in school.
Still, De Vega made rare appearances with her final public appearance coming in 2019 during the SEA Games opening ceremony at the Philippine Arena.
Sadly, she faced the biggest fight of her life after her daughter said she has been battling cancer since 2018, which was only revealed recently.
Philippine sports has lost a legend.
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