On Saturday, Monica Puig made Puerto Rico hold its breath. Going back and forth during the last two minutes of the game, fighting with German, Angelique Kerber, for the Gold medal at the Rio Olympics and leaving many people close to a cardiac arrest. Monica brought home the island’s first Gold Olympic medal and made each and every one of us proud.
Monica, who is 22 years old, has been practicing for years and has won many tennis matches. She currently holds the 34th position in the world, but that didn’t stop her from beating the second Racquet in the world, Angelique Kerber, on Saturday.
Monica did what no one has seen in a really long time: she brought the people of the island together. All around Puerto Rico, family and friends gathered to watch the historic match. As one of the commentators put it “even the beaches are empty.” That day, every establishment with a television was full. TV’s in shopping malls were surrounded by people awaiting the results of the game, restaurants were filled to capacity and everyone was somehow keeping track of the game.
The first game, on Friday, was between Monica and Petra Kvitová, which led her to the finals against Angelique Kerber. We noticed how frustrated she got as Monica showed her skills on the court. You could see at one point, Kerber hitting the tennis court with her racquet in frustration. Monica won the first set, lost the second and won the third, securing Puerto Rico’s very first Olympic Gold medal.
Everyone cried as the Borinqueña rang for the first time in any Olympic Games. Monica brought the island to tears as she, herself, collapsed in tears on the tennis court after the point that secured her victory. It was exciting and emotional and we should all feel proud of our Champion.
But to me, the winning doesn’t matter and the gold medal doesn’t matter. What matters is what Monica Puig was able to do.
Puerto Rico is currently facing many problems. We are undergoing an economic crisis, our status is questionable and political parties divide us most of the time in almost every area of our lives. Nonetheless, on Saturday, Monica made all those problems go away for a little while and we were able to give up the barriers that usually divide us. Monica showed the world that Puerto Rico fights back and that we are not just a small island with big problems. We are not just a colony of the United States. We are much more than that. We are Boricuas and Monica showed us that we should always feel proud of waving our beautiful flag, the same flag she wore on the court after winning.
We aren’t a perfect nation and our systems aren’t perfect, but Monica proved that it’s not that hard to come together. As the saying goes “Soy Boricua aunque naciera en la luna” (I am Boricua even if I was born on the moon). And I think we can all learn from this. We are all puertorricans before anything else and our flag and hymn represent who we are as a country. We shouldn’t sell it and much less insult any part of it. We shouldn’t give up on our country, because the same feelings we had seeing Monica Puig win, we can feel that every day if we work towards making Puerto Rico a better place – together.
To Monica Puig, thank you. You are our Champion and we are proud of the honor you have brought us. This is only the beginning and we are grateful for showing us we still love our island in the middle of the Caribbean. Thank you for bringing the best tears to our eyes on Saturday and thank you for giving all you had in order to bring back that Gold. Thank you for reminding us that our star shines on its own.
We all cried with you, Monica Puig. You make us proud.