The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THREE young collegians were hoping their debut at the 2020 Olympic Games would be memorable in the women’s 4 x 400 metre relay. It was. Just not under the circumstances that it ended.

After running the first 100m, sprinter Anthonique Strachan, 27, came off the curve and stopped. At the time, the Bahamas was well out of contention for a place in Saturday’s grand finale in eighth place.

Thursday’s completion of the race at the Tokyo National Stadium was considered a total disaster for the country, but Strachan said it was a precautionary measure she had to take.

“I felt something in my left knee and I didn’t know what it was or how serious it could be, so instead of making it worse and messing up the rest of my season, I just decided to stop,” said Strachan, who teamed up with Doneisha Anderson, Megan Moss and Grand Bahamian Brianne Bethel.

When asked if she had any regrets that it happened at the Olympics, Strachan lamented: “Not at all.” It could have happened to anybody.”

Other than moving up to seventh briefly ahead of Australia on the second exchange between Moss and Bethel, the Bahamas didn’t stand a chance in the first of two heats against their more seasoned rivals.

Anderson, the 20-year-old student of the University of Florida, ran a split of 52.6 seconds on pop off, Moss, a 19-year-old from the University of Kentucky, did 53.3, while 24-year-old Bethel of the University of Kentucky was clocked in 54.33. Strachan shut it down after 100m.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo, 27, was also a part of the relay pool, but didn’t compete because of her preparation for the final of the 400m and high school sensation Lacarthea Cooper, just 17, didn’t make the trip because of COVID-19.

The team of Strachan, Miller-Uibo, Moss and Anderson didn’t qualify under the Blue Chips Last Chance meet at the end of July right after the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ Nationals at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, which didn’t allow the athletes any time to gel together because they faced their formidable foes.

Poland, coming off their gold medal performance in the first mixed gender 4 x 400m relay staged at the beginning of the competition last week, clocked 3:23.19 and Cuba did 3:24.04, both season bests for first and second and they were joined by Belgium in a national record of 3:24.08 for the three automatic qualifying spots for Saturday’s grand finale.

The other heat was stacked with the United States taking the top spot in the fastest qualifying time of 3:20.86 over Jamaica, who did 3:21.95 with Great Britain third in 3:23.99, all season’s best performances. Earning the two fastest losing times into the final were the Netherlands in 3:24.01 and Canada in 3:24.04, both season’s best times as well.

While Miller-Uibo was a lock in for the 200m, Strachan, Bethel and Tynia Gaither all qualified for the event.

However, because only three competitors were allowed to compete, team officials in Tokyo held a runoff between Strachan and Bethel to determine who would join Miller-Uibo and Gaither.

Miller-Uibo advanced to the final where she jogged across the finish line in 24.00, Strachan got to the semi-final and Gaither opted not to compete after she reached the semifinal of the 100m.

By the time efforts were made to try and get Bethel to replace Gaither in the 200m, the entries were already closed.

In a heated dispute over who should be allowed to compete in the event, both team manager Dawn Woodside-Johnson and head coach Rudolph Ferguson resigned as treasurer and first vice president respectively of the Bahamas Coaches Association.

And the Bahamas Olympic Committee revoked the accreditation of assistant coach and relay coordinator Rupert Gardiner, who was eventually sent home before the completion of the games.