Following in her father’s footsteps—in her own way.
Missy Macuja Elizalde is making her parents beam with pride.
Once a Brazilian jiu-jitsu white belt, Missy competed in Tokyo in 2019 and emerged victorious, taking home the gold medal.
Standing atop the podium, she was flooded with memories—particularly of her father, Fred Elizalde, who once broke an Asian record in the same sports complex, albeit in a different arena: swimming.
“It wasn’t the exact same stadium,” Missy shared in an Instagram post, “but my dad still cried when he saw me crowned champion.”
Missy has long admired her father’s legacy as an athlete. He represented the Philippines in the 1960 Summer Olympics, the Southeast Asian Games, and “many more that he can tell you about better than I can,” she quipped proudly.
AloJapan.com