The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

LONDON, England — With so much riding on the success of the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay team, men’s head coach Dave Charlton said they’re going to keep the line-up for today’s heat in a safety deposit box.

The Bahamas, favoured to win the gold with the injury to American LaShawn Merritt in the first round of the men’s 400, will get tested when they run out of lane eight behind Jamaica in nine. The United States, who held off the Bahamas for the gold in Beijing, China at the 2008 Olympics, will run out of lane three.

Also included in their heat are the Dominican Republic in two, Australia, Venezuela, Japan and Russia occupy lanes four through seven.

“Tomorrow (today), the line up is due one hour before race time,” Charlton said. “We want to keep our options open because a lot of the countries want to bring their sledge hammer to get into the final. So our main objective is to be in the final. To be in the final, you have to make the final.”

Heat one will comprise of Trinidad & Tobago (in lane one), Great Britain (two), Belgium (three), South Africa (four), Cuba (five), Kenya (six), Germany (eight) and Poland (nine). The top four in each heat will advance to the final that will be ran on Friday night instead of Saturday.

The switch has been made to stage another dramatic finish in the men’s 4 x 100 metre final as the grand finale on Saturday, featuring the much anticipated Jamaican-led Usain Bolt.

Team Bahamas went through their final workout session on Wednesday and Charlton said he was pleased with what he saw from all of the competitors.

“We have a relay pool and we certainly make a selection from it,” he said. “We’re just keeping that selection safe until we have to submit the names one hour before the race is scheduled.”

What Charlton did confirm is that all of the athletes here for the relay team are being considered, including Michael Mathieu, who didn’t participate in the final practice because he was preparing to run in the semifinal of the men’s 200 Wednesday.

Unfortunately for Mathieu, he false started and was withdrawn from the race. Fortunate for Team Bahamas, they have another fresh leg to work with.

“Mike was always in the pool,” Charlton said. “He’s a 45.06 quarter-miler and you can’t ignore that. He’s waiting in the wings.”

The other members of the pool are Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown and Demetrius Pinder, who were fourth and seventh respectively in the final of the men’s 400, along with Ramon Miller, who didn’t advance out of the semifinal and Andrea Williams, Avard Moncur and Wesley Neymour.

“We want to hold this one close to our chest because other teams want to know what we are doing,” Charlton said. “So we want to keep this close to our chest. With this new format of 16 teams, our chances are good. We are going to execute and put the best team forth.”

In Beijing, the Bahamas won the silver with the team of Andretti Bain, Mathieu, Williams and Brown. Miller and Moncur were the alternates.