FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Puerto Rico and pride can be almost synonymous.
“If you know a Puerto Rican, they have flags everywhere. They are unbelievably proud to be who they are.”
That includes Razorback decathlete Ayden Owens-Delerme: an NCAA champ, a world championship contender, and equally as important: Puerto Rican.
“Being Latino to me… it’s who I am,” Owens-Delerme said. “It’s my identity, being Puerto Rican.”
Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there weren’t many who shared that identity.
“I didn’t grow up in a big city full of Puerto Ricans or full of Latinos like New York,” he said. “I grew up really isolated from that, so all of the Puerto Ricans I knew had the last name Delerme. They were my family.”
A big family.
Seven siblings along with cousins, grandparents and tios and tias (uncles and aunts). Together, they all shared the traditions of their homeland.
“We were super closely knit,” Owens-Delerme said. “Each summer we would have lechon asado, pig roast… since I was young, I was around the music. I was around the dancing. Just who Puerto Ricans are.”
So by the time Owens-Delerme was 17, he knew what flag he wanted to represent in international competitions, even if the choice wasn’t an easy one.
“It was difficult,” he said. “It was not easy. It was not clear cut, not black and white… but ultimately I valued me and what I felt.”
“I knew that Puerto Rico would be the only way that I could truly be fulfilled and like, bring pride to my family, to my community and to my people.”
And that’s exactly what he did this past summer, representing Puerto Rico at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and posting a fourth-place finish on one of track and field’s biggest stages.
“I went out there, wore the jersey… there were Boricuas (someone from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican descent) in the stands I didn’t even know shouting my name and throwing up the flag,” he said. “That to me meant everything.”
Two years from now, his next goal is to wear the jersey on the biggest stage of all: the Olympics.
“The Olympics has been on my mind since I was single digits, nine years old, when I started track and field,” he said. “And representing Puerto Rico has been on my mind ever since.”
“So yes, representing Puerto Rico at the Paris Olympic games is my lifetime goal and my lifetime dream.”
And on this Hispanic Heritage month, that goal is as clear as his pride in his identity.
“We’re all one people,” he said. “I’m proud to be Hispanic, I’m proud to be Latino, and I’m even more proud to be Puerto Rican.”
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