The Filipina won the women’s 200m and 400m with her electric sprinting that set the tone to her becoming a record-breaking phenom and the fastest woman in Asia.

She was everything Asian athletics had been dreaming of: a representation of brilliance, a huge talent who shone on the world stage, a young athlete with glowing vitality and a role model kids needed.

She hoarded a remarkable count of more than 40 gold medals at international meets during her 15-year athletics career, a tally that may never be beaten in the continent.

Today, at the age of 57, de Vega is in the toughest race of her life, slumped in a critical condition following complications caused by Stage 4 breast cancer.

Her daughter, volleyball player Stephanie Mercado, broke the news in a post on her Instagram last Wednesday and sought financial help for her mother’s treatment.

She was diagnosed with the disease in 2018 and has undergone several procedures over the years including brain surgery.

According to reports, de Vega who had been working as a kids athletics coach in Singapore was in a hospital in Manila and remained in critical condition.

Like many others, Malaysians, too, were gutted by the news, with some taking a look back at the achievements of the track legend who was the embodiment of a girl in love with her athletics pursuits and her country.

Not since the time of Mona Sulaiman, who dominated the Asian scene in the early 1960s, did the Philippines have another star speedster.

As early as 1981, the Asian athletics community and the media saw her as the successor to the legendary Taiwanese sprinter Chi Cheng.

Back in the ‘80s, every encounter between fierce rivals de Vega and PT Usha of India was hyped up by the media, making for compelling drama that gripped an entire continent.

She became the darling of the 1981 Sea Games in Manila, first captivating the home crowd with her dazzling 23.54s run in the women’s 200m final ahead of Malaysia’s Mumtaz Jaffar who clocked 24.21s.

Two days later, she stamped her status as heroine of the games with another top podium finish, this time in the 400m (54.75s) with Malaysia’s V Angamah (55.76s) and Saik Oik Cum (56.65s) behind her.

She continued with a golden flourish in the 100m dash in the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, and would repeat the feat in the 1986 edition in Seoul.

In the Asian Athletics Championships, de Vega grabbed gold in the 100m and 200m in Kuwait (1983) and did the same four years later in Singapore.

At the ’87 Sea Games in Jakarta, she maintained her golden sheen with victories in the 100m and 200m and in the long jump.

She blazed to a new record of 11.28s in the 100m, a mark that stands until today, and later leapt to another new mark in the long jump.

The next day, she won the 200m in superb style despite a heavily strapped heel, an injury suffered in the long jump.

A product of the Philippines’ Gintong Alay programme in the 80s that turned the country into a powerhouse in track and field, she featured at two Olympics in Los Angeles (1984) and Seoul (1988).

From 1989 to 1991, she took a break from athletics as she completed her degree in physical education and got married.

Her comeback to athletics at the Manila Sea Games in ’91 was greeted with wild celebrations.

Before the 100m, as Lydia settled into her starting blocks, the Filipinos went into a frenzy, screaming her name in ferocious harmony.

Percy Seneviratne, in his book ‘Golden Moments of the Sea Games, 1959-1991’, related that a Filipino journalist, who absorbed the scene, commented: “If Lydia doesn’t win, there’s going to be a riot here.”

Seneviratne said de Vega made sure they didn’t have to go on a rampage when she surged past the early pace setters, her compatriot Elma Muros, and G Shanti of Malaysia at the 60m mark.

Shanti, who had beaten de Vega at the previous month’s Asian Track and Field championships, flung her herself at the tape in sheer desperation but only sprawled in for a silver at 11.63s, compared to Lydia’s 11.4s with Muros picking up the bronze.

The Filipina later said: “I had no doubt that I would win it. I gave it 101 per cent effort, A lot of people had underestimated me. Now they know who I am and what I can do. The victory is for the Filipino people and my family.”

Now, people are praying for de Vega’s speedy recovery and hoping victory will be hers once again.