Cristina Lopez (#177), of El Salvador, won the country's first Pan American Games gold medal in the women's 20-kilometer
walk. I'm not even going to make fun of the fact that walking is a sanctioned sport. I will also not draw comparisons to the 70-year-old ladies that meet every morning in front of the mall foodcourt and take laps faster than a dancer in debt. No, I won't do that, and here is why. Lopez dedicated the victory to her ill 3-year-old
daughter.
"The medal is for my little daughter and for all of El
Salvador," Lopez said. "I'm going through a very difficult
time."
Her daughter, Monica Michelle, has leg cancer.
Here's to Cristina and Monica. I wish them the best.
