The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — While all of the performances at the 2016 Olympic Games have not been what was anticipated so far from the Bahamas track and field team, head coach George Cleare said he’s confident that it will only get better before the competition ends on Saturday night.

“It’s been a rough meet. So far, we’ve gotten some pretty good performances,” Cleare said. “Of course, Shaunae Miller looked exceptionally well in her heat and she’s looking good going into the final, so we are very proud of what she has accomplished.”

Cleare, however, said that while he has to commend national Shavaz Hart for posting his season’s best of 10.28 seconds for 37th, Adrian Griffith and Jamial Rolle struggled in placing 61st in 10.53 and 64th in 10.68 respectively. Neither advanced out of the first round.

Nor did Ty’Nia Gaither, who was 39th in the women’s 100m heats in 11.56.

“The sprinters didn’t perform as well as I expected, but they still performed as best as they could under the circumstances,” Cleare said. “The competition here has been extremely tough and you almost certainly have to be at your best in order to advance.”

That was evident in the men’s 400m where both Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown and Alonzo Russell got eliminated in the first round. Steven Gardiner got out of the first round, but had his share of problems in the semi-final and missed an opportunity to get into the final.

“He ran a lot better last year at this level (at the World Championships in Beijing, China), so he now has to change gears quickly and get over the 400m and focus on the 4 x 400m. They had the first two heats stacked and in his heat, it was just difficult for him to get out. It was just tough out there for him.”

All things considered, Cleare said the best is yet to come with the jumpers all waiting to do their thing in the men’s high jump, which held its qualifying round last night for Donald Thomas, Trevor Barry and Jamal Wilson; the men’s triple jump, featuring Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands and NCAA champion Latario Collie and the women’s long with Bianca ‘BB’ Stuart, as well as the hurdlers, Pedyra Seymour in the women’s 100m hurdles and Jeffery Gibson in the men’s 400m hurdles; the men and women 200m and the men and women 4 x 400m relays.

“It’s a tough meet, but right now everybody is focused and they re all geared up and ready to compete over the final week of competition,” he stressed. “We’re just going to continue to fight and hopefully we will get the kind of performances that we had anticipated from our athletes.”

With the issue of whether or not Shaunae Miller will run the 200m or not sorted out with Gaither, Anthonique Strachan and Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson all set to contest the event, Cleare said they are moving forward in a positive manner and while there are some athletes going through their “baptism by fire”, there are sufficient veteran athletes who are helping to guide them along.

Cleare said he’s still confident that The Bahamas will get its flag hoisted in a medal ceremony, but he is also looking for a number of athletes to produce their personal and season best performances, based on how intense the competition has been here so far.