The Tribune

IT was the biggest and grandest stage of her life, but junior quarter-miler Shania Adderley was unrattled, not even after she admitted that she was a bit nervous making her debut as a senior competitor on the global scene.

At just 16 years old and just getting ready to complete her senior year in grade 12 at Tabernacle Baptist Academy in Grand Bahama, Adderley was thrust into the spotlight at the BTC World Relays Bahamas 2024 as a member of The Bahamas’ mixed 4 x 400 metre relay team.

Her initial appearance on the anchor leg on Saturday didn’t go too well as she couldn’t maintain the top spot she got from her team-mates Alonzo Russell, Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner on Saturday.

As she was caught and passed on the home stretch by three other teams to finish fourth in three minutes and 14.86 for 12th place overall, Adderley felt a little crushed. But what a difference a night made.

She bounced back on Sunday and after getting the baton with the lead from Gardiner, Adderley maintained her position to take it around to Russell. He stayed in that spot and brought it hom w to Miller-Uibo, who electrified the home crowd as she coasted to victory In a national record breaking performance of 3:12.81, the Bahamas qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games and Adderley felt relieved.

“This was a very exciting experience and I just thank God for the opportunity that has given me,” Adderley said. “I knew I could do it because I was not chosen by mistake.”

She heard the “negative comments” after she completed the race on Saturday, but Adderley said she was determined to “:block them out” and just concentrate on running her best to give the Bahamas a chance to win.

“I just needed to stay positive and don’t let nobody bring me down and to just keep God first,” she insisted.

Having had a rare opportunity as a junior to compete with the World and Olympic 400m champions Miller-Uibo and Gardiner, as well as fellow Olympian Russell, who also hails from Grand Bahama, Adderley said she was excited.

“I just kept on praying that all things would go well,” he stressed. “I knew my family was just going to keep me motivated no matter what, so I just thank God for them for giving me the boost to get into the right mindset to finish this race.

“I just thank God for the opportunity for this amazing feeling. I am so excited to be able to go and to present my country again. I didn’t see myself running with these athletes, but here I am.”

Adderley replaced Anthonique Strachan in both races, who was unable to compete this weekend because of a slight injury. Strachan was a member of the team that included Miller-Uibo, Gardiner and now retired Grand Bahamian Michael Mathieu, who won the gold with the then national record in the mixed relay in 2017, the last time the World Relays was held here.

From day one when they came out to compete, Adderley had the confidence and trust in her team-mates, despite the fact that they didn’t accomplish the qualifying feat until the final day.

“I just told Shania to give me something to work with.and she gave me the lead, so all I had to go with it,” Russell stated. “Thank God we got the victory and we quality.”

Gardiner, the 26-year-old reigning Olympic men’s 400m champion from Moores Island, Abaco, was so esactic about Adderley’s performance.

“We gave her a chance and she came through. We couldn’t ask for more. She’s now a part of the senior national team national record,” quipped the multiple men’s national record holder.

“It’s been a minute since we had a relay team at the Olympics, Here we are. We’re going to Paris.”

Miller-Uibo, in remembering how she got her breakthrough from a junior to senior athlete, was very complimentary of Adderley following suit.

“Our junior athlete, Shania, ran so well,” said Miller-Uibo,who is coming back from having the birth of her first child last year. “She got me all excited about running my leg. She came in and she did what she had to do.”

While Miller-Uibo, 30, is the reigning Olympic 400m champion, she’s not decided what she will do in Paris. But she’s certain that she wants to compete again with Adderley on the mixed relay team.

To those persons who were critical about her performance after the first heat on Saturday, especially on social media, Adderley said there’s nothing much for her to say.

“Even though some stuff was negative, God said to forgive and so I just want to forgive and move on. It’s a new day,’ she pointed out. “People will say what they have to say, but you just have to prove them wrong and that is what I did.”

Now hopefully she can cement her spot as one of the few Bahamians to make the Olympic team as a teenage high schooler. One of them was Government High Magicwoman Pauline Davis, who eventually became both an individual and relay gold medalist.

The latest to qualify before Adderley was sprinter Lacarathea Cooper, who was selected to compete out of St Augustine’s College in the last Olympics in Tokyo, Japan as a member of the women’s 4 x 400m relay team, but didn’t make the trip because she contracted the Covid-19 virus.

Hopefully, Adderley can stay healthy and is selected by both the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations and the Bahamas Olympic Committee to live out her dream of being an Olympian in Paris in August.