The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Not once, but twice the national anthem was played in the Tokyo National Stadium on Friday as the ‘Bahamian Super woman’ Shaunae Miller-Uibo joined ‘speedy’ Steven Gardiner in clinching her victory in the women’s 400 metres in a dominating performance at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Moments after Gardiner was awarded his gold medal from his triumph in the men’s race on Thursday, Miller-Uibo, strapped with a medical tape around her right leg, came back and duplicated the feat on Friday as she returned to the top of the mountain, repeating as the champion from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.

Her time of 48.36 seconds shattered her North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) area and Bahamas national records of 48.37 she set at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar behind suspended Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain for a doping violation.

The 27-year-old Miller-Uibo is the only Bahamian holding a NACAC record. The list is dominated by athletes from the United States of America on both the male and female sides.

Referred to by one of the announcers as the “Bahamian Super Woman,” Miller-Uibo also posted the second fastest time ever run in the Olympiad’s history. Only Marie-Jose Perec of France has run faster, clocking 48.25 in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996.

But with all of that history posted, Miller-Uibo said the biggest thrill of all was getting on top of the medal podium with the gold. She shared the moment in the stadium without any fans with her husband Maicel, Gardiner and the Bahamas team officials. Her family, normally in attendance for such important global competition, was limited to watching from home because of the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, which denied spectators’ access into the stadium.

But her proud mother, Maybeline Miller, said they celebrated just as if they were there in person.

“At the time of the race, my husband Shaun, our son, Shaun Jr and our daughter Shaunece were all sitting down at home, just sitting and cheering and hoping that she just brings the gold home,” she said. “We were waiting for the victory.”

After the victory, the family got to express their exuberance with Miller-Uibo as they got to log into a live video at the finish line, an initiative provided for the athletes to feel the presence of those they love in the absence of their presence in the stands.

Miller-Uibo, reflecting on her performance, attributed to a message she’s been preaching in the lead up to the games for the past two years. “I was saying ‘watch God,” said Miller-Uibo after she lifted her index finger on her right hand into the air at the start of the race.

“That’s what I’ve been saying for the past two years - (hashtag) # What God. “I knew he was going to bring me through. We’ve gone through a whole lot of aches and pain, but I know God always makes a way, so I’m so thankful. I’m so thankful to God for how far he’s brought me. To go home with the gold medal is a blessing.”

She did it with almost a 10-metre lead over Marileidy Paulino, who trailed almost a second later in a Dominican Republic national record of 49.20 in her Olympic debut.

American Allyson Felix, the most decorated female athlete at the games, closed out her storied career with a gallant comeback effort out in lane nine for the bronze in a season’s best of 49.46 – her 10th Olympic medal.

Inspired by Gardiner as he got the national anthem to be played for the first time in these games, Miller-Uibo said she just wanted to hear it one more time for the Bahamian people.

“I was happy in the moment and I keep telling myself we need a replay of it,” Miller-Uibo pointed out.

“I kept talking to God saying ‘God you need to bring me through’ and he did. We heard the national anthem again. I’m so blessed right now and thankful to God.”

On the same day that she opened her account in her defence of her 400m title on Tuesday, Miller-Uibo competed in the final of the 200m, only to end up jogging across the finish line in 24.00 for eighth place as she took a precautionary measure to avoid a slight hamstring injury she had to endure all season long.

With a much needed day’s rest to recuperate and get some additional treatment for the nagging injury, Miller-Uibo got to watch as Gardiner got his Olympic gold to add to his World title from 2019 in Doha.

Like a re-energized bunny, Miller-Uibo kept going and whatever her team did in her rehab, she bounced back and surged to the front of the pack coming off the final curve out of lane seven and never eased up going through the tape.

She won’t be able to go down in history as the first Bahamian to emerge as a 200/400m double gold medalist, a quest she tried to achieve even without the International Olympic Committee and World Athletics adjusting the schedule for her to attempt the feat.

But she has inked her name as the first Bahamian athlete to repeat as champion in the same event, earning what she described as her “most memorable medal” she has ever earned, especially with all she had to endure.

She said she owes it all to God.