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What Puig's Olympic Gold Really Means for Puerto Rico

By Leani García

The island’s first gold medal is a source of pride and hope amid financial and health woes.

On Saturday afternoon, I was sitting with my blanket gripped tightly to my face as my boyfriend patiently repeated (for the fifth time) the difference between a game and a set.

Like many other Puerto Ricans, it was the first time I had watched tennis, and I kept forgetting the rules. For the 8 million of us on the island and in the diaspora, time stood still as our eyes were glued to TV screens, laptops and cell phones to see if 22-year-old Mónica Puig would make history as...

Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.

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