Maria Lydia de Vega-Mercado[2] (Tagalog: [lɪdiˈjɐ dɛ ˈbɛga mɛɾˈkadɔ]; December 26, 1964 – August 10, 2022)[3] was a Filipina athlete who was considered Asia's fastest woman in the 1980s.

national games) in the 1970s, and was recruited to be a part of Far Eastern University Tamaraws varsity track team.

[10] As Asia's sprint queen, she ran away with the gold medal in the 100-meter dash in the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi[5] and duplicated the feat in the same event at the 1986 edition in Seoul[5] where she clocked 11.53 seconds.

[17] She also brought home a silver medal in the 200-meter race from the 1986 Seoul Asiad, and has once represented a friend for the Long Jumps and broke her record.

[10] De Vega retired after competing at the track and field event of the 1994 Manila-Fujian Games held in October.

[21] In December 2005, De Vega went to Singapore after receiving three job offers from Singaporean private schools to handle athletics.

They first met at the 1979 Asean Schools Track and Field Championships in Singapore and were together for six years prior to both of them entering separate marriages.

[30] De Vega would marry another man named Paul Mercado in 1990,[30] a former engineer at Meralco and an entrepreneur engaged in the fish pond business,[22] with whom she had three children, including Stephanie (Paneng), who is a former collegiate volleyball player of the DLSU Lady Spikers.