When do sports figures become heroes? The word “hero” is sometimes used far too freely nowadays. Many athletes have been called heroes, even if they make all sorts of fumbles in their personal lives, often failing to match the heroic feats they show in their respective sports.
Despite this, the ability of sports to galvanize national pride and identity cannot be denied. There are times, indeed, when our athletes can truly inspire our people and represent their hopes and dreams.
Ever since the pandemic, our nation has been hungry for things to be joyous about. Thus, we are grateful to these three athletes who have given us reasons to celebrate during these trying times.
Yuka Saso became the first Filipino ever to win a major golf event after bringing home the US Women’s Open championship.
At 19 years, 11 months, and 17 days old, Saso is also the youngest to win the US Women’s Open since Park In-Bee, who was the same age when she won the tournament in 2008.
Prior to her US Open title, Saso won the gold medal in the 2016 World Junior Girls Championship, two gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, and two Ladies Professional Golf Association titles in Japan.
She was named this year’s Athlete of the Year by the Philippine Sportswriters Association—her second Athlete of the Year award, having won the 2019 edition alongside fellow golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz for their 2018 Asian Games golds.
In boxing, Nonito Donaire turned back the clock when he won the World Boxing Council’s bantamweight title just a few months shy of his 39th birthday.
In defeating French titleholder Nordine Oubaali via a sensational fourth-round knockout, Donaire became the oldest WBC bantamweight champion in the sport’s history and one of only a handful of fighters to win a world title in over three different decades.
Donaire, who hadn’t fought since losing in 2019 to Naoya Inoue in Japan, was just as inspirational during his interview after the fight, calling out against Asian hate crimes and stressing the importance of keeping mentally and physically fit during the pandemic.
“I want to make the statement that we’re all one,” Donaire said. “If we could help each other, then we should help each other. Let us stop Asian hate. My elderly father is afraid to go out. Let’s stop the hate, any kind of hate.”
About aging, he said: “I believe that the human body is an incredible machine, an incredible thing if we take care of it. Taking care of our body allows us to be as strong as it can be because mentally we are only as strong as our mind can be.”
Finally, in tennis, Alex Eala also made history when she and her Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva won the 2021 French Open girls doubles championship on June 12, as the nation celebrated Independence Day.
Eala is the first Filipino to win a title at Roland Garros, which is the 16-year-old’s second Grand Slam win. She won her first Grand Slam in the 2020 Australian Open girls doubles tournament with Indonesian partner Priska Nugroho.
There’s been plenty of doom and gloom the past year as our lives have been totally upended by the pandemic. But the astounding individual performances of these athletes have certainly given us a bright side—a shared experience that provided happiness, hope and inspiration to a people hungry for all these.
Their victories, despite overwhelming odds, collectively send a loud message to all Filipinos—WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS TOO—lifting the spirit of a nation struggling to survive a deadly virus, all the hurts and failures, forgiven and forgotten, at least for a moment.