The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

After making her debut at the Olympic Games as a member of the women’s 4 x 100 metre relay team in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996, sprinter Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie is back for her sixth straight appearance at the four-yearly global competition.

But this time, she will be travelling with Team Bahamas a female coach when the games are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5-21. “I just have to smile because in 1996, a long time from here, being my first Olympics, I had mixed emotions,” Ferguson-McKenzie told The Tribune. “You are prepared for competition, but you are also star struck just being a part of the whole environment, the atmosphere, the aroma and the athletes you see.

“When you are a newcomer, I tell people you prepare physically, but when you are put into the environment mentally and physically, you have to be prepared, so that is what I try to tell kids now. At the time, I wanted to represent my country to the best of my ability and the University of Georgia, my alma mater, which was just down the street.”

The 1999 University of Georgia graduate said it’s an honour for her to be back at the Olympics, but a lot of people don’t know the significance of doing it as an athlete-turned coach.  It’s definitely a milestone for the Bahamas and one that maybe in an historic category worldwide.

In Atlanta, at the age of 20, Ferguson-McKenzie had made the team and was hoping to run on the women’s 4 x 100m relay, but had to watch from the sidelines as Sevatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup, Eldece Clarke and Pauline Davis-Thompson went on to win the silver medal.

This year, at the age of 40, Ferguson-McKenzie was hoping to make the team as a member of the resurgence of the women’s 400m relay, but that was thwarted as the Bahamas didn’t post one of the top 16 times in the world in order to qualify for Rio.

Now as an assistant coach at the University of Houston, Ferguson-McKenzie was still afforded the opportunity to travel to the games, but this time in the capacity of an assistant coach - responsible for the women - in Rio.

“My goal is hopefully to be able, as a member of the coaching staff, to share some of the knowledge that I have gained with the athletes,” said Ferguson-McKenzie, who has had one of the most glittering careers as a Bahamian athlete.

“In 2000 in Sydney, Australia, I went there as the No.2 ranked 200m competitor and due to circumstances, I ended up getting fifth, but eventually moved up to fourth,” said Ferguson-McKenzie of a drug scandal involving one of the athletes. “So there are certain things you have to be prepared for mentally.

“I’m really excited about that and I’m hoping to share that knowledge and be able to serve Team Bahamas, despite all of the negative aspects that we are hearing. I think in 2004 in Athens, Greece, we heard how it wasn’t going to be a great games, but it turned out to be a great one and we just had to perform.”

The owner of a bronze medal in the 200m in Athens and a member of the gold medal women’s 4 x 100m team in Sydney after she got a silver in her debut in Atlanta, Ferguson-McKenzie said she knows that the Bahamas has become accustomed to winning medals at the games.

“I think we have a team with youngsters, who are in my opinion, the most talented,” said Ferguson-McKenzie of the 32-member team selected to represent the Bahamas in Rio. “There are a few who I thought by now would have been running mid-22s or lower (in the women’s 200m). I just haven’t seen that yet.

“But as far as numbers of concern, I think it’s all about what they bring to the plate. It’s not over until it’s over, so I’m hoping that this will be one of the most successful teams that we have ever had to represent the country.”

Although the Bahamas will be represented in the sprints with double national champion Ty’Nia Gaither entered in both the 100 and 200m, Anthonique Strachan and Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson in the 200m and Shaunae Miller in the 400m, Ferguson-McKenzie said she’s a little disappointed that the 4 x 100m relay team will not be competing.

“It concerns me because we all know the history of our country where we had teams compete in either the men’s 4 x 400m and the women’s 4 x 100m, but now we are going to have the women’s 4 x 400m compete,” Ferguson-McKenzie said. “But I think it’s now disappointing for the women’s 4 x 1 because we have the talent to run the team and not having one there.

“I am hoping that the kids will understand the importance of representing your country. When you step out on the line, that is what, in my opinion, used to give me strength. It was not for Debbie, it was for our country. That gave me so much power, strength and passion and I hope that they get a chance to realise that earlier rather than later.”

For some members of the team, which went on to be coined the “Golden Girls” as a result of their back-to-back triumph at the IAAF World Championships in 1999 in Seville, Spain and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Ferguson-0McKenzie said the relay was their only “claim to fame.”

“It was a starting point for us, so I’m hoping that they will put more emphasis on it and with the World Relays coming back here at home next year, they will concentrate more on putting the best teams possible to run in the 4 x 100m relay.”

Ferguson-McKenzie, who went on to become the face of Team Bahamas after the retirement of Pauline Davis-Thompson, said this is the Olympics, the cream of the crop when it comes to sports globally, and so she’s expecting the unexpected from the Bahamian athletes.

“I just want them to be focused, but at the same time have some fun,” she said. “I want them to compete as best as they could without the pressure. They just have to believe in themselves, execute and go out there and have some fun.

“As a staff, we will be there to ensure that everything is organised and balanced and everybody is in it 200 per cent mentally. We will be there as a staff supporting them 200 per cent. So I just want them to go out there and represent the Bahamas to the best of their abilities.”

The Olympics comes without its share of controversy as the International Olympic Committee has put a ban on the Russian Olympic Committee for the use of widespread doping.

Ferguson-McKenzie, who has been a long-time advocate for athletes to remain “drug free,” said she sympathises with the athletes who are affected.

“It’s unfortunate, but just as they are having a difficult time trying to figure out exactly which athletes are guilty and who are not,” said Ferguson-McKenzie, a former ambassador for the sport. “I feel sorry for the Russians because if it’s a systematic thing growing up where you are taking vitamins and it’s not vitamins.

“At the end of the day, it’s cheating, so at the end of the day, whatever needs to be done to clean up the sport, it has to be done. That being the case, good for us because our women’s 4 x 400m relay team got in because the Russians are out after running their heart out at the Blue Marlin Track Meet.”

Having learned her lesson a long time ago, Ferguson-McKenzie said she was told that the “good that you do will follow you and the bad that you do will also follow you. So I’m happy for the women’s 4 x 4 and I hope that they will all work together and not worry about all of the negativity.

“They’re now going to the games, so they just have to go there and perform. When you take short cuts, nothing good comes out of it. It’s like when you tell a lie, nothing good ever becomes out of it. The truth always comes out. The old folks always say the ice in the glass will always show, so it’s always important that we try to continue to do the right thing. Don’t do the wrong thing because you will get caught or you end up dying.”

Encouraging the Bahamian athletes to stay drug free, Ferguson-McKenzie said if they follow her motto: “Dream big, work harder,” they can avoid the temptation of falling into the trap of taking the performance enhancing drugs.

To the Bahamian people who won’t get to see her compete this year, Ferguson-McKenzie offered her gratitude for their support over the years.

“Let’s get rallied up. If you see the Bahamian athletes on the street, rally behind them and give them your support,” she said. “We didn’t see the numbers we expected at the trials being an Olympic year, but when the athletes go out there and compete for the Bahamas, they really need the support that they receive.

“Let’s continue to be proud Bahamians and leave all this negativity behind,” she said. “It’s kind of heartbreaking to hear and see all of the things that are going on at home. We just have to work together with one common goal of keeping the Bahamas as a peaceful nation that we all love and adore as our home.”

As for whether or not this is the end of the line for Ferguson-McKenzie, she said that she’s leaving it in the hands of God. Whatever path he has for her in the future, she’s going to embrace it.