The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has assured they will immortalize the late Asian sprint queen Lydia de Vega at the soon-to-rise POC Museum at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino made the assurance to De Vega’s daughter, Stephanie Mercado-Koenigswarter, and mother Mary when he visited iconic De Vega’s wake at the Heritage Park in Taguig City before her remains were transported to her Bulacan hometown,
“Lydia’s legacy will forever be remembered. So we, the POC, are planning to put all her achievements on a wall inside the Olympic museum,” Tolentino told Koenigswarter and Mary de Vega.
“Her achievements in the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Championships and Asian Games, among others, will be immortalized there in the museum. She’ll be an inspiration to all aspiring athletes.” he said.
Tolentino said work on the POC headquarters at the New Clark City will start shortly. “This is the first time the POC will have a home of its own. And a museum will be built to aptly highlight this home,” he said. He went to the wake with POC secretary general for international affairs Bones Floro.
De Vega dominated track and field in the Asian region in her prime, winning back-to-back Asian Games 100-meter dash gold medals in New Delhi 1982 and Seoul 1986, two 100-meter and two 200-meter titles in the Asian Games championships in Singapore in 1983 and Kuwait in 1987, and nine SEA Games gold medals from 1983 to 1987.
De Vega’s remains were transferred on Monday to her hometown in Meycauyan, Bulacan, where she also once served as councilor.
The Department of Education (DepEd) said De Vega was “a testament that dreams can be achieved through hard work and sacrifices.”
“We hope her legacy will live on in the minds and hearts of young Filipinos,” DepEd said in a statement.
Tolentino, meanwhile, flew to Bangkok Monday for a SEA Games Federation Council meeting on the 32nd SEA Games in May 2023 which Cambodia will host.
