WITH THE LOVE of her life by her side, Olympic tennis gold medalist Monica Puig boards a plane in New York on Nov. 7, 2022. She’s bound for her home, a 1,600-mile flight to Puerto Rico. A day earlier, Puig had bounded through the streets of New York City’s five boroughs, a 26.2-mile excursion to complete her first marathon, her fiancé by her side. Now, awaiting her in her motherland is a new journey, a new life. Her wedding to Nathan Rakitt is days away.
A mountain of last-minute wedding details awaits her back home, and Puig feels adrenaline coursing through her body. Her head is spinning. She’s thinking about her future. Her plans. Her hopes. Her dreams. One thought bounces around her brain, over and over again.
I am going to run the six major marathons.
On Monday, she’ll take that vow to the Boston Marathon.
WEARING A RED DRESS with white trim and blue accents, Puig crumples to her knees and puts her head on the court at the Olympic Tennis Centre at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Her body shakes with sobs. Moments earlier, she had fought off her sixth break point of the game against world No. 2 Angelique Kerber with a deft backhand drop shot. And then, on her fourth gold-medal point, she watched with glee as a Kerber forehand sailed wide before flinging her racket into the Rio air.
At that moment, with fans draped in red, white and blue Puerto Rican flags jumping in the stands, she became the first athlete from Puerto Rico to win an Olympic gold medal.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. The 22-year-old Puig had never even reached a quarterfinal in a Grand Slam tournament. She was ranked 34th in the world and had just one title to her name. But after beating the reigning French Open champion, Garbine Muguruza, and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, Puig gutted out a three-set win over Kerber in the gold-medal match.
Instantly, she was a star in Puerto Rico. She had brought home the island nation’s ninth medal at the Games. She was the first Puerto Rican woman to win an Olympic medal of any kind. Moments after her celebration, her team pulled her aside to show her live videos from Puerto Rico. People at watch parties, people dancing and celebrating her victory. Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, reached out to congratulate her. That was…
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