Limpag: Joy’s silver

LIKE most of the Cebuanos who followed her career, I expected Mary Joy Tabal to defend her gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games. Surely, the five-time Milo Marathon champion and one-time Olympian who endured so much could hurdle that challenge.

But when I learned that the gun start for the marathon was 6:15 a.m. I thought, that’s going to be a big factor.

Mary Joy staggered to the finish line and collapsed, a reminder of that first time she ran the long distance and collapsed at the finish line. Why? She didn’t care about anything else, she just wanted to cross the finish line even if she’d have to drag her feet past it.

It wasn’t only her who collapsed. The Indonesian, who was leading the race, ran out of gas in the final 400 meters. That must have been disappointing, to be so close to the gold medal and to lose it so near the finish line.

I saw the finish. That wasn’t the Joy I know, that sure-footed runner who crosses the finish line of a marathon as if she just went on a jog. That 2019 SEA Games finish was another aspect of Joy, one that allowed her to cross finish lines as if she just went on a jog. Some may see a runner struggling to cross the finish line, but I saw that sprinter turned runner telling herself to cross the finish line.

Should we be disappointed? I guess so since Joy herself is disappointed. But that’s the beauty of sports. Joy lost and she couldn’t have lost to anyone more deserving. Christine Hallasgo, a 27-year-old mom from Bukidnon who spent the past few months away from her child, only had her child in her mind when she crossed the finish line.

Joy knows what running has done for her and how it has transformed her life and I know she knows fully well how this SEA Games gold medal will transform the life of the woman who beat her. And she’s happy for her teammate’s success.

Right now, Joy, just like you, have a lot of questions. The answer is simple. Sports happened. You can train all you want for an event but if the breaks don’t fall your way, well, you’d be lucky to cross the finish line in one piece.

Joy has been running and has been training to run for the better part of three years—and I’m not saying that’s a factor in this one—I just point this out because while basketball and football players enjoy an off-season—I don’t think she has had any.

So I hope after the SEA Games she gets to have a long off-season.

Some R and R are needed.

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