Jubilation!

Jubilation! Exaltation! For the nation, the brightest Christmas ever – all hail the super athletes of Southeast Asia! Their form, their grace, speed, strength, power, and determination, the will to win against all odds are what we celebrate, for they’ve given us pride and joy and restored our hopes in the race. At a time when our spirits are low – teachers, lawyers flunking their professional qualification exams at 70 to 80 percent, students landing at the bottom of the cellar in reading comprehension, math, and science, pre-teens getting pregnant and teens in multiple pregnancies – the champions of the 30th Southeast Asian Games are telling us the future is bright, the road is paved with gold, silver, and bronze.

The metal medalists may not know it, but a grateful nation has just been rescued from the dumps of apathy and despair, for we have shown the world we are good not only at sports, we are good people. So many of us cheered the Timor Leste team onward and forward, encouraging them to go, go, go after a struggle that promised no light at the end of the tunnel. Our champion surfer, Roger Casugay, dropped out of the waves to save an Indonesian opponent because it was more important to rescue a man than to win a race; then he went on to another race and got what he deserved, a medal gleaming in gold.

Roger’s feat brought tears to the eyes and a tribute from Indonesian President Widodo, who thanked him for his humanity. As far as I’m concerned, this is the shiningest moment of the Games. There are winners and there’s gold everywhere, but there’s only one Roger.

There’s also one and only one Lydia de Vega, Asia’s fastest woman of the last century. A pity she’s been “working in Singapore for the last 15 years” waiting for an offer to come home, train a new generation of girls running faster than the wind, with no such offer coming her way. In the post-SEAG euphoria, let’s ask the national sports associations and PSC, POC to bring back our legends to help produce future champions.

Why not recruit the heroes of old who are able, willing, and ready to teach. Old? How old is Freddie Roach?