The Tribune

BAHAMIAN rower Emily Morley will make history on Saturday morning by becoming the first rower to represent her country in the Olympics when she takes part in the opening heat of the women’s single sculls at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Morley, 22, a student at Ithaca College, New York, rows at 8.30am against Kimberley Brennan (Australia), Kenia Lechuga Alanis (Mexico), Yeji Kim (South Korea), Anna Malvina Svennung (Sweden) and Barbara Thornycroft (Zimbabwe).

She was awarded a wild card for Rio after she placed 10th at the FISA Olympic Rowing Qualification Regatta for the Americas in Valparaíso, Chile, in March. Her personal best is 7min 57sec for the 2,000m race and this will be a different level of competition for her.

The top three in each of the six heats at the Lagoa Stadium progress to the quarter-finals while the other three go to the repechage stage.

Morley said she is hoping to make the E final and beat some competitors she faced in the South American Olympic qualifiers.

Dustin Tynes is the other Bahamian in action on the first official day of competition. He swims in lane eight in the second heat of the men’s 100m breaststroke at 1.07pm, racing Matti Mattsson (Finland), Azad Al-Barazi (Syria), Nicholas Quinn (Ireland), Carlos Claverie (Venezuela), Yannick Kaeser (Switzerland), Erik Persson (Sweden) and Edgar Crespo (Panama).