SPORTS SECTION E
Bimini Wahoo
Smackdown, Page 8
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016
‘It was phenomenal...It was just a thrill to watch her compete’ By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — Every time Pedrya Seymour stepped onto the track at the Olympic Stadium to compete, she looked up to the skies to acknowledge her deceased brother, Keron Dean, whom she dedicated her season to. At the same token, the national record holder also had her parents, Tyrone and Cecily Seymour, in the stands cheering her on. This was Seymour’s first time competing at the Olympics and her mom said they were not going to miss the trip to Rio for anything in the world. They got there on Friday, August 12, and got there just in time to watch their only daughter compete on the biggest sporting stage in the world in the heats on Tuesday, August 16 and the semi-final and final the following day on Wednesday, August 17. “This was our first time watching her compete and it was phenomenal,” said Mrs Seymour, whose daughter made her international breakthrough when she represented the Bahamas at the IAAF World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in April. “It was just a thrill to watch her
compete.” But like any parent, Mrs Seymour said she definitely felt the “goose bumps,” but she was more than elated when she noticed that she had broken her own national record in the semi-final and qualified for the final. In the final, Seymour finished sixth, but Mrs Seymour said it didn’t matter. Her daughter had completed one of her goals and that was to make it to the final. Mrs Seymour said her daughter also wanted to win a medal, but she will settle for the record-breaking performance 12.47 seconds, which in her mind is a medal in itself. “I feel as if she did an excellent job. She wanted to PR and she surpassed that,” Mrs Seymour said. “I dreamt about it, but when I saw the time, I said ‘yes Lord, you did it for her.’ Whatever she does, I know she is going to do it very well, so I wasn’t concerned at all about her performance.” In what has been one of the most remarkable accomplishments, not just for the Bahamas but the sport in general, Seymour only converted from a 400 hurdles specialist to a high hurdles superstar in the straight away race in just four months of training. Unheard of, especially to go all the way and advance to the final at
PEDRYA SEYMOUR in action. the Olympics in their debut. “The Olympic experience was great for us,” Mrs Seymour said. “The only problem that we had was that we were not able to visit her at the Olympic Village where
the athletes stayed. We sent in all of the information (to the Bahamas Olympic Committee) and the only response that we got was that we would be able to see her on Saturday, but it was pointless because she left on Friday.” Eventually after 21-year-old Seymour competed, her parents managed to meet in the city and they spent a good portion of the day celebrating her feat. While her parents returned home on Monday, Seymour headed back to the University of Illinois where she will get ready for her senior season. Mrs Seymour said there has already been numerous requests from agents and coaches trying to lure her out of school and into the professional ranks. But Mrs Seymour said her daughter, who graduated from St
Anne’s High School, is on an athletic scholarship and they have impressed upon her the importance of ensuring that she completes her collegiate degree before she turns pro. “The money will always be there and if the people are so much interested in her, then they could wait until she finishes school,” Mrs Seymour said. “She went off to get a college degree and we want her to complete that and then she can look at going pro.” Although they are not a wealthy family, the money can wait, according to Mrs Seymour. Her education, she stressed, won’t in her quest to complete her degree in communications. And based on the way her daughter has progressed so rapidly this year, Mrs Seymour said they are already making plans to go to London, England for the 2017 IAAF World Championships and possibly the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. “We had such a wonderful time watching our daughter compete that we want to do it again,” she stated. “It was such a good time, but we only wish that as parents of the athletes, we can get together so that everybody who is going can do something for the athletes while they are there competing.”
Proud to be Bahamian
WASHINGTON, DC — His Excellency Dr Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, is pictured looking at two enlarged photos of The Bahamas’ Olympic medal winners during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5-21. The photos of Shaunae Miller, who won a gold medal in the women’s 400 metres, and the men’s 4x400 relay team of Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu, Steven Gardiner and Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown, who won bronze medals, are being displayed in the conference room of The Bahamas Embassy, 2220 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
GOLDEN KNIGHT CHRIS BROWN: ‘THIS IS DEFINITELY THE LAST TIME THE BAHAMAS WILL SEE ME RUN AT THE OLYMPIC LEVEL’ By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net AFTER successfully leading the Bahamas’ men’s 4x400m relay team back to the medal podium at the Olympic Games, veteran quartermiler Chris Brown said he looks forward to making an impact in the next phase of his career. Brown, 37, produced a split of 44.20 seconds on the anchor leg to lead the Bahamas to a bronze medal last week in a season’s best time of 2:58.49 alongside Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu and Steven Gardiner. “This is definitely the last time the Bahamas will see me run at the Olympic level,” he said. “I’m looking forward to starting a training camp, I’m looking forward to continuing putting on events in the Bahamas, I’m looking forward to coaching and just giving back to the Bahamas in a different chapter of my career. “I’m looking forward to it and just allowing God to do his work with me. For now, I’m going to take the rest of the season off, take time with my family and just relax.” The bronze medal in Rio was the fourth Olympic relay medal for
the Bahamas men’s 4x400m team. Three of those teams featured Brown as the anchor. In Rio as the men’s team captain, he made his fifth Olympic appearance in a much different role from the team’s 2012 gold medal triumph in London with Mathieu, Demetrius Pinder and Ramon Miller when he ran the first leg of the race. In addition to leading off on the gold medal team in London, he also anchored the silver medal performance with Andretti Bain, Mathieu and Andrae Williams in Beijing, China in 2008 and anchored as well in Sydney, Australia in 2000 when he and Avard Moncur, Troy McIntosh and Carl Oliver clinched the first relay medal with the bronze. “To be able to take on any role is important because as the leader you have to be flexible with your space and time and also you have to be able to be comfortable with what you’re doing,” he said. “This year, just to be able to step up and bring the Bahamas a bronze medal was an accomplishment and I enjoyed running with my teammates and getting the job done.” Brown, the elder statesman of the team, rebounded after dropping to fourth on the back stretch on his last leg as he was passed by Jamai-
CHRIS BROWN ca’s Javon Francis as they trailed LaShawn Merritt from the United States and Gaone Leaname Maotoanono from Botswana. But as they came off the final curve and into the home stretch, Maotoanono stumbled with the pressure behind him as Francis reeled him in. Brown passed him as well and just as he got closer to the finish line, he managed to dip to avoid Kevin Borlee and Belgium denying the Bahamas the bronze. The medal, according to Brown, was dedicated to Demetrius Pinder,
the only member in the relay pool who didn’t get to compete. Brown began his transition to meet promoter several years ago when he hosted the inaugural edition of the Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational. After logistics problems forced cancellation and a two-year hiatus, the meet returned to the Thomas A Robinson stadium last April. “The first year, we had about six individual medallists from the Olympics and the World Championship,” Brown said. “This year, we had about 27 current and former champions,” Brown said at the time of the event. This year’s meet included Kirani James from Grenada and American Jeremy Wariner along with American sprinters Justin Gatlin, Wallace Spearmon, Natasha Hastings and Tori Bowie, hurdler David Oliver, Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Sherone Simpson and triple jumpers Christian Taylor and Will Claye. Bahamian athletes included Shaunae Miller and Steven Gardiner, triple jumper Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands, long jumper Bianca Stuart and high jumpers Donald Thomas, Trevor Barry, Ryan Ingraham and Jamal Wilson.
OLYMPIC CHAMPION SHAUNAE ON TOP OF DIAMOND STANDINGS FOR 400 By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net IN 2004, Tonique Williams-Darling achieved the lofty goals of an Olympic title and the IAAF Golden League Jackpot in the 400m. Twelve years later, Shaunae Miller has an opportunity to follow suit and claim both coveted titles, Olympic champion and Diamond League winner, in the same season. Miller currently leads the Diamond Race Standings for the women’s 400m with a total of 30 points. The Olympic champion and world leader has recorded three first place finishes in each of her appearances on the circuit this season. She opened with a 50.45 seconds win in Shanghai, China, followed by 50.15 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, both in May. She posted a then world-leading time of 49.55 in July at the “London Anniversary Games.” The women’s 400m is featured in seven of the 14 Diamond League Meetings this season with Paris (August 27) and Brussels (September 9), the only meets outstanding on the calendar. Miller did not appear in the other races on the circuit, won by Jamaicans Stephanie Ann-McPherson (Oslo) and Novlene Willams-Mills (Stockholm). McPherson is ranked second in the standings with 25 points followed by American Natasha Hastings with 18, and Williams-Mills with 17. Miller comes off the feat which made her one of the most talked about stories in track and field this year when she stumbled across the finish line to claim the Olympic title and hold off a late surge by American Allyson Felix in a personal
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