The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT was back in 2002 in Barcelona, Spain, where Frank Rutherford won the Bahamas’ first track and field medal at the Olympic Games.

Every year since, the Bahamas has had at least one athlete appear on the medal dais in the four-yearly games, which serves as the pinnacle of all sporting events in the world.

Rutherford’s historic feat came after legendary Sir Durward ‘Sea Wolf’ Knowles teamed up with the late Cecil Cooke to win the first gold medal for the Bahamas at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, in the Star Class in sailing. It was actually the second medal for Knowles, who teamed up with the late Sloane Farrington for the bronze at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

Over the years, the Bahamas has produced a significant number of Olympians from 1952 in Helsinki, Finland, to 2008 in Beijing, China, only missing 1980 in Moscow, Russia (as a result of the boycott of the Games because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) in sports such as sailing, swimming, track and field, boxing, cycling and tennis.

But in addition to the two medals from Knowles and his crew and the bronze from Rutherford in the men’s triple jump in Barcelona, the Bahamas has collected three other gold, two silver and a pair of bronze for a grand total of 10. The breakdown includes four gold, two silver and four bronze.

Following in the footsteps of Rutherford in 1992, the Bahamas got a silver from the combo of Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, Eldece Clarke, Chandra Sturrup, Savatheda Fynes and Pauline Davis-Thompson in the women’s 4 x 100 meter relay in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996.

The Bahamas’ first dual medal haul came in 2000 in Sydney, Australia, where the same female squad rose to the top of the podium with the gold and were nicknamed the ‘Golden Girls’ following their triumph at the 1999 IAAF World Championships in Seville, Spain.

Also in Sydney in 2000, Davis-Thompson clinched the silver in the 200m as she completed her illustrious career, but was eventually elevated to the gold after American Marion Jones was stripped of her medals for testing positive for a banned substance.

The song, ‘Once Is Not Enough’ by Bahamian Eric Minns aptly depicted the performances of Team Bahamas in Athens, Greece, in 2004 as Tonique Williams-Darling struck for gold in the women’s 400 and Ferguson-McKenzie came through for the bronze in the 200.

And inspired by the women, the men came through big time in Beijing in 2008 as Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands soared to a bronze in the triple jump and the team of Andretti Bain, Michael Mathieu, Andrae Williams and Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown reeled in the silver behind the United States in the 4 x 400 relay.

Although it was track and field that shined with the hardware in Beijing, swimming and tennis all made their presence felt in what turned out to be the most exciting games so far, not just from the competition standpoint, but the entire ambience that was displayed by China.

In swimming, Jeremy Knowles produced a pair of national records in the men’s 200 individual medley in 2:01.35 and 53.72 in the 100 butterfly as he brought the curtain down on his career, completing his second appearance at the Games.

Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, meanwhile, got started and in her debut was just eight spots short of advancing out of the first round of the women’s 50 meter freestyle and 12 spots in the 100 free.

And in tennis, the duo of Mark Knowles and Devin Mullings got some international recognition as they were placed in the top half of the draw where they faced the top seeded team of American identical twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan. The result was a two-set sweep of 7-6 (2), 6-4 for the Bryans, who were surprised that the Bahamians played them as aggressively as they did.

Mullings also made history on his own when he became the first Bahamian to play in a singles match at the Games. He got in as an alternate, playing against Agustín Calleri of Argentina in the first round. He didn’t survive the first round either as he lost in identical scores of 6-1, 6-1 to Calleri.

Fast track to London in about two weeks for the 2012 games.

The Bahamas has a 24-member team, but outside of the 23-member contingent for track and field, the only other competitor is Vanderpool-Wallace, who will be returning for her second sting at the Olympics. However, Vanderpool-Wallace is much more seasoned and is primed to be a finalist in either or both the 50 and 100 free.

This year’s track and field has a mixture of youth and experience, all of whom have qualified with the exception of about four competitors, who have been added for relay purposes for the women’s 4 x 100 and the men’s 4 x 400.

The Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations also attempted to field a men’s 4 x 1 and women’s 4 x 4 teams, but they both failed to secure one of the top 16 times in the world by the July 1 deadline to book a lane at the Games.

So the question is: Who will win a medal for the Bahamas this year?

And having advanced from one to two medals, will the Bahamas continue the progression by getting three this time around?

Those questions will be answered between July 27 to August 12 when the Games are staged.