The Tribune

Denise Maycock catches up with the Bahamian star hurdler as he comes home to Freeport for a break after a successful track season.

BAHAMIAN 400m hurdler Jeffery Gibson is back home in Grand Bahama after soaring to fifth in the world rankings following an impressive and record-breaking track season, winning the bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships and gold at the Pan American Games.

All the media attention and his status as a rising track star is still new to Gibson, who is happy to be back in Freeport to share his achievements with family and close friends.

“It is such a relief to be home; I am just so happy … to see my parents and my family,” he told The Tribune this week.

After his final race of the season in Brussels (which he won), Gibson returned home last week on a four- to five-week vacation. He will fly out at the end of October to begin training in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Gibson, 25, has broken the Bahamas national record for the 400m hurdles four times this year. His success at the world championships in Beijing, China, and at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, Canada, has propelled him from 13th in the world rankings to fifth. With the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next summer he is looking forward to doing greater things on the track next year.

“I am very pleased with myself. Last year I finished off my season ranked 13th and this year I ended the season as top five; I want to make that number one next year,” he said.

“I don’t want to get anything less than top 10 from now on in my track career. I think I am more than capable to do it, and with hard work and determination … I can achieve it. Off of this season I am just thinking about how I did this year and I am optimistic about next year. I just want to make sure I am ready for next year to do something great.”

Gibson visited his high school alma mater earlier this week and received a hero’s welcome from students at the Bishop Michael Eldon High and Primary Schools. He took photos with the students, and spoke at the school assembly and participated in an awards ceremony. It was a very proud moment for the former Warriors graduate.

“I took photos with each of the classes there; I never really expected to get that much attention from people at home, especially from the younger children,” he said.

Gibson said he would like to visit other schools to inspire students and young athletes to be optimistic about their future. “I would tell them that track and field is always up and down and unpredictable, but to always keep the faith. It is amazing how your life can change in a year. I try to be optimistic, hopeful, and prayerful with what I am doing, and the changes have been working in my favour, and I can only thank God for that,” he said.

Gibson did not give up as a young athlete when his hopes of joining the Bahamas Junior National team were almost crushed at the Carifta trials and junior nationals in 2008. That was when he discovered his true talent and calling as a 400m hurdler.

“Originally, I started running the flat 400 metres. It was in 2008 when I was running at Carifta trials and junior nationals, and I think out of exhaustion in the heats, I was not able to run the finals in the 400 metres and that took me out of the running to go to World Juniors. I wanted to get on the team so I asked the team co-ordinator to put me in the 400m hurdles; I never ran it before.

“Frederick Bastian said just run and jump and I went out there and did it. It was awkward, but it showed me that if you really want something you go out and do it. I was able to qualify and I made the team and went to Poland.”

Two weeks before competing in Poland, Gibson took some lessons from hurdlers such as David Charlton to prepare him for the race. From there, he started running hurdles on and off in college. It not until his senior year that he decided to run hurdles full time for the entire track season.

“I just began to blossom slowly, but surely,” he recalled.

Gibson says he wants to improve on his technique next year. “I am going to try to get my technique down a little better and keep my physique a little longer. I noticed that my core was not as strong coming into the final months of the track season, so I am going to make sure that I am physically fit so I that can to become much faster.”

Gibson said it was a very close finish as he crossed the finish line at the IAAF world championships. “When I crossed the line I was not exactly sure how I finished because they had not posted the results and I knew it was a close finish and would take some time to get the results on the board. In my head, I was saying, ‘please not fourth.’ When I saw my name third, I said, ‘Yes Lord, Thank you.’ I was happy.”

At the Pan Am Games in Canada, earlier in the summer, Gibson took the gold medal, beating rivals Javier Culson, of Puerto Rico, and Kerron Clement, of the United States.

“I think mentally sometimes I count myself out and I don’t give myself l the credit that I deserve. I know that I am a hard worker. That race was good for me because Javier Culson is one of the best hurdlers in the Caribbean, and when I beat him and Kerron Clement, who is a world-renowned hurdler, I told myself that I am capable of achieving anything.

“Once I realised that we [Gibson and Culson] came over hurdle eight together, I tightened my core, kept my form, relaxed and just ran all the way home and I passed him, and won the race; it was something truly amazing.”

Gibson said his parents are very proud of him and that he is grateful to them for their support and advice.

“They are very happy. Two and a half years ago we sat down and talked about my plans to move professionally into the hurdles versus running the 400 meters and the 400m hurdlers. They advised me to go strictly to the 400 hurdlers; they saw this before me and just to see that everything is happening the way they said, I am just so relieved and grateful that they believed in me,” he said.

Gibson said he was also grateful to his family and friends in Eleuthera and Nassau, especially his grandparents “who really support and take care of me”.

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net