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When Monica Puig learned she had won the final point Saturday during the women's singles tennis competition at the Rio Olympics, she dropped her racket and mouthed the words, “Oh my God.”
And rightly so.
Puig has made history by not only winning Puerto Rico’s first gold medal ever, but also by being the first woman to win a medal representing Puerto Rico, whose male athletes have captured eight medals at past games, mostly in boxing.
Puig, cheered on by fans in Rio de Janeiro who waved Puerto Rican flags and shouted "Si, se puede" ("Yes, we can") throughout her hard-fought three-set victory, beat the Australian Open champion, Germany's Angelique Kerber, 6-4 4-6 6-1.
As a low-ranked player, her victory came as a remarkable surprise. Puig, who deployed aggressive ground strokes to beat Kerber and blasted winners from all over the court, is also the first unseeded woman to win the Olympic singles gold.
"It was the tournament, and greatest moment, of my life … I wanted it so badly, I fought and my put my heart and soul on the court,” Puig told reporters. "I'm a pretty aggressive player ... I have that 'Boricua' fire in me."
The win is a refreshing change of course for a country that has been saddled with massive debt and unspeakable poverty. Forty-five percent of the population of the U.S. island territory is classified as poor, and U.S. President Barack Obama in June signed bipartisan legislation to create a financial control board of the kind that has historically deepened the immiseration of the commonwelth to repay creditors in full.
On top of this, Puerto Rico is also suffering from a Zika outbreak, prompting the Obama administration to declare a public health emergency on the island Friday.
Puig is cognizant of her country’s issues, and said that her motivation throughout the Olympics has been winning for her nation.
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“I’m doing it more for my country,” she said shortly after her semifinal win against Petra Kvitova, according to USA Today. “This Olympics isn’t about me, it’s about Puerto Rico and I know how bad they want this. This isn’t for me this is for them.”
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