Teener Naomi Marjorie Cesar snatches the SEA Games 800-meter gold from favorite Vietnam lass

CHONBURI — All hail, Miss Cesar, teen queen.

Sixteen-year-old Naomi Marjorie Cesar galloped to history at the 33^rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, dislodging 2023 women’s 800-meter run champion and hot favorite Nguyen Thi Thu Hà of Vietnam from the throne.

This makes the youth standout the youngest Philippine athlete to ever win the SEAG gold in athletics, according to the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association.

“It was great, couldn’t ask for a better result,” said Ms. Cesar, a second-generation athlete whose father Ben competed at the Games in the 1990s and whose elder sister Malea is with the Filipinas football team.

Ms. Cesar almost fell over at the turn but quickly recovered and made a gutsy kick from the 200-meter mark, stunning the Vietnamese champion.

She kept her blistering pace and reached home in 2:10.2 ahead of Ms. Nguyen (2:10.3).

Compatriot Bernalyn Bejoy (2:10.6) joined Ms. Cesar at the podium. “It feels amazing. I’m so honored and so proud to represent our country and to win the gold is a dream come true.”

Though a first-timer in the SEAG, the US-based middle-distance runner already showed high potential when she won the silver at the recent Asian Youth Games.

“I knew it’s a possibility,” Ms. Cesar said of a potential Cinderella success. “I didn’t put any expectations on myself but definitely. I visualized myself winning.”

While the teen queen was waging battle in Bangkok, her ate, Malea, nervously watched the live coverage of the race from the Filipinas’ hotel 119 kilometers away in Chonburi.

Malea shed tears of joy when her kid sister won.

“I’m so proud of her,” said the footballer, who cried in the arms of goalkeeper Inna Palacios as the rest of the Filipinas clapped.

The ball is now on Malea’s hand to make it a double celebration for the Cesar family on Wednesday by helping the Filipinas win the women’s football gold against Vietnam in Chonburi. — Olmin Leyba