The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SHE has had a history of performing big time wherever she competed locally or internationally. But there’s just one place that veteran sprinter Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie would like to enjoy some level of success and that is at home in the new Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

Since the construction of the multi-purpose stadium as a gift from the People’s Republic of China to the Bahamas Government in 2012, Ferguson-McKenzie has yet to make her mark.

The last of the ‘Golden Girls’ era - 1999 World champions and 2000 Olympic champions in the 4 x 100 metre relays - Ferguson-McKenzie was battling a few injuries that sidelined her during the initial IAAF World Relays last May in the second major international meet to be staged in the stadium named after her godfather, Thomas A Robinson.

But after juggling her new career as an assistant coach at the University of Houston, Ferguson-McKenzie said she’s looking forward to finally putting her stamp on the stadium. “I’m in very good shape,” she said.

She gives a lot of credit to the wealth of talent she’s working with on the athletic team in Houston, Texas.

“My transition from full-time athletics into coaching has been very good,” she stated. “I would like to thank my head coach Leroy Burrell and the coaching staff at the University of Houston for giving me great support and love.”

Undoubtedly the most decorated Bahamian female athlete with her résumé pegged with about 50 medals accumulated from the Caribbean regional youth CARIFTA Games to the elite global World Championships and the Olympic Games, Ferguson-McKenzie would like to do one thing before she calls it quits.

“I am hoping over the next two years that the relays would start to perform at the level that the Golden Girls would have achieved,” said Ferguson-McKenzie, who showed flashes of her heyday when she ran a brilliant anchor leg at the 2012 Olympics. “The men’s 4x4 is still dominant and I hope that we can recapture the magic of 2012.”

As the World Relays serves as the next biggest meet to help put the Bahamas women’s team back on the map, Ferguson-McKenzie is eager to see what unfolds for this year’s event in May.

“I think the World Relays is great for The Bahamas, exposing Bahamians to the highest level of athletics,” said Ferguson-McKenzie, who has represented the Bahamas with a lot of class during a career that has spanned more than three decades.

“Like I said earlier I am in great shape. My body is healed from the injuries I suffered over the last two seasons. I am still functioning at an elite level and I think that history shows how Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie performs on the big stage.”

For Ferguson-McKenzie, who celebrated her 39th birthday on January 16, she’s just going to wait and see how the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations puts the team together to represent the Bahamas.

But the 100 and 200 metre specialist, who holds the national 200m record at 22.19 seconds, admitted that she’s just as eager about competing as she anticipates the Bahamian public in showing their support at the two-day meet.

“It’s my hope that the Bahamas would come and support like they did last year,” she said. “It’s very important for the athletes to have the home crowd cheering for them.”

Despite her age, Ferguson-McKenzie is confident that she can still compete at a high level and she’s hoping that the opportunity will present itself at the second IAAF World Relays right in her backyard at the TAR Stadium.

Robinson, who passed away on November 25, 2012, represented the Bahamas in four consecutive Olympics, starting in 1956. At the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Robinson won gold in the 200-yard dash and silver in the 100-yard dash. He has been an idol of Ferguson-McKenzie, who feels it would be a fitting tribute for her to Robinson if she can finally get to compete in the new stadium that has been named in his honour.