Keon still believes Lydia De Vega could've won Olympic gold

Diay never reached her full potential, says Keon
Mar 7, 2023
Michael Keon Lydia de Vega
PHOTO: Marlo Cueto

THE late track great Lydia De Vega could have been the country’s first Olympic gold medal winner had the stars aligned when she was still a gangling teenager teeming with potential.

Former Project Gintong Alay director Michael Keon recalled the sky was the limit for De Vega when she started out racing the 200-meter and 400m runs - not the glamorous 100m dash that she dominated in her Hall of Fame career.

De Vega would've been good enough to win Olympic gold in the 400m had she chosen to concentrate on the event, Keon added. She was so good at age 16 that blew by the field away and shattered existing records in her first competitive 400m run as member of the Gintong Alay team, then consisted of just 22 track athletes.

Paneng Mercado

“The first competition that Gintong Alay had was against UAAP [runners] which was in May 1980. Lydia de Vega ran the 400 meters, not the 100, not the 200, and she broke the Asian Games record, the Southeast Asian Games record, and the Philippine record, running 54.6 seconds at the age of 16,” related Keon during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night on Monday at the grand ballroom of the Diamond Hotel.

“Now you all know that physical athletes mature at 22 to 26. Now if Lydia had continued to train in the 400 meters, she would have easily broken 50 seconds for the 400 and which would put her in an Olympic final,” he added “She would have even run 49-48 seconds and could have easily done that over a period of eight years and she would have been, in my eyes, an Olympic champion.”

Keon made the revelation as the country’s oldest media organization elevated De Vega to the PSA Hall of Fame following an amazing career that had her being crowned as Asia’s fastest woman in the 80s.

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    She claimed the title behind her back-to-back gold medal feats in the century dash of the 1982 New Delhi and 1986 Seoul Asiad.

    Keon, now the mayor of Laoag city, stressed his recollection does not detract from her being a Asian Games gold medalist twice.

    Still, Keon believes De Vega could have been an even bigger star had she competed in the 400 meters the rest of her career.

    Ironically, Diay’s first two gold in the SEA Games came in the 200 and 400 runs.

    “Lydia De Vega was such a great athlete but I’m sorry to say this, her full potential was not exploited,” said Keon.

    “She should have run 400 meters.” he added, noting how De Vega’s long-time rival PT Usha did well in the event during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

    Despite not ending up in an event where Keon believes she could have further excelled, the former Ginto Alay official said De Vega is still hands down, the greatest Filipino track athlete the country ever had.

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    “Having said that, she (De Vega) is still the pinaka-best athlete that this country ever had and I was fortunate enough to be a part in training her. I am happy with her legacy and she really deserves this award,” Keon said.

    De Vega’s daughter, former volleyball player and now television analyst Stephanie Mercado received the PSA award on behalf of her mother, who died of cancer last August at age 57.

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    PHOTO: Marlo Cueto
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