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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Sports
The Bahamas female sprinters have done quite well on the international scene. Debbie Ferguson captured the 200m at the 2001 World Championships. Chandra Sturrup won the 60m at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Pauline Davis-Thompson won the 200m at the Sydney Olympic Games. The Golden Girls have won the 1999 World Championships and Sydney Olympics 4x100m relay. Savetheda Fynes captured the Bronze medal in the 100m in the 1997 Athens World Championships. The team of Eldece Clarke, Debbie Ferguson, Chandra Sturrup, Savetheda Fynes , and Pauline Davis won the silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the 1996 Olympics. In this column we take some time to focus on our female sprinters at the junior level. Central American and Caribbean Games, Kingston 1962 The first Bahamian women to participate in an international competition for The Bahamas were Gail North, Elaine Thompson, Christine Jones, and Althea Rolle. This was at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Kingston in August of 1962. North was the first to participate and clocked 12.4sec. Rolle ran 12.5sec and Thompson 12.9sec. Each finished fourth in their heat. Christine Jones joined them in the 4x100m relay to finish fifth in 48.7sec. Claudia Ferguson May 11 th 1951 Claudia Ferguson participated in the 100m at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Panama in 1970. At press time we were unable to confirm her performance. She was the first Bahamian female after the original team in the 1962 CAC Games to participate for The Bahamas. Claudette Powell October 24 th 1952 Claudette Powell participated at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. She clocked 12.2sec for sixth in heat 4 and 25.7sec for sixth place in heat 2 of the 200m. In 1971 Powell participated at the Central American and Caribbean Senior Championships in Kingston placing third in the semi-final in 12.1sec and seventh in the final in 12.4sec . Powell was fourth in the second semi-final of the 200m in 25.4sec but did not participate in the final. At the Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia Powell placed sixth in the second heat of the 100m in 12.0sec and eighth in the second heat of the 200m in 25.0sec. She became the first Bahamian female to participate in the Olympic Games Oralee Fowler 1977- Carifta, Barbados Gold Under-17 200m- 25.3sec(w). 1978- Carifta Nassau Silver 400m 56.53sec 1979-Carifta, Kingston Gold 200m-23.98sec, Merline Ottey Silver-24.05sec
1980-Carifta, Bermuda 100m Gold-11.84sec, 400m Gold-54.76sec. MaryAnn Higgs 1977- Carifta Barbados Gold 100m Under-17- 12.32sec, Gold 200m-24.44sec(w). Silver 400m-55.99sec 1978- CAC Jr. Champs, Jalapa, Mexico Gold- 100m-12.01sec Silver-400m- 56.45sec Won Austin Sealy Award for Most Outstanding Athlete of Games First for Bahamas 1979- Carifta, Kingston, Jamaica- Gold-400m-53.58sec
1980- Carifta, Berm u da- Gold 200m-25.09sec
1981- Carifta, Nassau- Gold -200m-24.04sec, Gold-400m-53.04sec
Central American and Caribbean Sr. Championships, Santo Domingo 8 th -200m- 24.75sec, 2 nd - Semi-Final-400m-55.40sec- Did not Participate in Final
Eldece Clarke February 13 th 1965 Eldece Clarke first participated for The Bahamas at the 1980 Carifta Games in Bermuda. She won a Silver medal in the 100m for Girls Under-17 in 12.0sec. Clarke’s subsequent times as a junior athlete were : 1982-11.80sec, 24.20sec 1984- Olympic Games- 11.61sec heat, 11.85sec, quarter-final Sixth 4x100m relay 44.18sec Pauline Davis July 9 th 1966 1982- 11.84sec, 23.90sec 1983 - 11.56sec, 23.57sec Helsinki- 6 th QF-11.62sec 6 th QF-23.64sec 1984 –Olympic Games Won heat in 11.51sec, Quarter-Final 11.61sec, Semi-Final 11.70sec Second in heat 23.37sec, fourth in Quarter-Final in 22.97sec , and Eighth in Semi-Final in 23.02sec Member sixth place 4x100m relay team 44.18sec Carifta Games- Austin Sealy Award 1985- Central American and Caribbean Senior Championships Bronze- 11.47sec, Bronze- 23.37sec Personal Bests- 10.97sec, 22.27sec
Chandra Sturrup September 12 th 1971 1987- 11.75sec 1988- 11.93sec CAC Jr. Champs-Gold 11.96sec World Junior Champs- 5 th Semi-Final 11.93sec
1989- 11.87sec 7 th place Central American and Caribbean Sr. Champs, San Juan 1990- World Junior Champs- Plovdiv 6 th place 23.81sec 100m-11.62sec Personal Bests- 10.84sec, 22.33sec
Savetheda Fynes October 17 th 1974 1991- 11.58sec 1992- CARIFTRA 200m Gold 23.49sec 100M Silver 11.52sec(w) Jr. CAC Honduras 24.1sec
200m Bronze 23.81sec Pan Am Jr. Silver 100m-12.00sec 200m-23.69sec Personal Bests- 10.91sec, 22.32sec
Debbie Ferguson January 16 th 1976 1991 11.75sec 24.26sec 1992 Carifta- Under-17-100m-11.79sec, 200m- 23.97(w) Central American and Caribbean Jr. Champs 100m-12.0sec, 200m-24.2sec World Junior Champs, Seoul- 11.79sec, 24.49sec 11.92sec seventh Quarter-Final 1993- CAC Sr. Cali, Colombia-200m –Second-23.32sec Pan American Jr. Championships- third 200m-23.85sec 1994- Carifta- 100m- Gold -11.58sec, 200m-Gold-23.53sec. Central American and Caribbean Jr. Champs, Trinidad & Tobago 100m- Gold-11.1sec, 200m-Silver-23.7sec World Junior Champs-Lisbon- 100m- Fifth- 11.48sec
Pan American Junior Champs, Santiago, Chile Gold=100m-11.58sec, Gold 200m-23.44sec World Championships, Gothenburg- 200m-6 th Heat-23.33sec Personal Bests- 10.91sec 22.19sec
Nivea Smith February 18 th 1990 2005- Carifta Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago-100m- 11.94sec, 200m-24.16 sec World Youth Championships, Marrakech, Morocco 200m-8 th SF-25.47sec 2006- Carifta Guadeloupe-200m- 23.66sec 2007- Carifta Turks & Caicos Gold- 20m-23.45sec World Youth Champs, Ostrava, Czech Republic Bronze 200m- 23.69sec First World Youth medal for Bahamas 2008 Carifta, St. Kitts & Nevis Gold-200m 23.01sec World Junior Championships, Bydgoszcz , Poland 200m- 5 th Semi-Final 23.84sec 2009- Carifta-St. Lucia- 200m- 23.36sec
Sheniqua Ferguson November 24 th 1989 2005 World Youth Champs- 100m- 6 th SF-11.96sec, 3 rd Heat-24.98sec 2006 Carifta Guadeloupe- 100m- 11.63sec, 200m-23.44sec World Junior Champs, Beijing- 100m-5 th SF-11.92sec, 200m- 8 th Final 24.03sec 2007- 200m-23.21sec 2008 World Junior Championships , Bydgoscz , Poland - 100m Bronze- 11.52sec 200m- Gold- 23.24sec First Gold medal for Bahamas at World Junior Championships Olympic Games, Beijing, China 200m-8 th Quarter-Final 23.61sec
Personal Bests- 11.07sec 22.64sec .
Shaunae Miller April 15 th 1994 Miller captured the Gold medal in the Under-17 Division of The 2010 Carifta Games Under-17 Division. At the World Junior Championships she won the Gold medal with a 52.52sec clocking. Shaunae eclipsed Tonique Williams-Darling record with a 52.45sec run in the semi-final. 2011- World Youth Championships- Lille, France- Gold medal 400m-51.84sec. 2012- World Junior Championships- Barcelona- 4 th place, 51.78sec. During the 2012 season Miller has clocked 22.70sec and 11.41sec. The 22.70sec was tied with Anthonique Strachan as a National Junior record until Strachan’s performance at the World Junior Championships.
Anthonique Strachan August 22 nd 1993 2009 Carifta, St. Lucia- 200m-23.95sec 2010 World Junior Championships, Moncton, Canada 200m-23.66sec Heat 23.99sec- Semi-Final 2011 Carifta, Montego Bay-Gold 100m-11.38sec, 200m-23.17sec Tied Carifta record of Veronica Campbell-Brown of 22.93sec Set in semi-final in 2001 Pan American Jr. Championships, Mirimar, Fla. 200m-22.70sec New Championships record, new Bahamian National Junior record, World leading Junior performance World Junior Championships, Daegu, Korea 200m-4 th Heat-23.09sec 7 th Semi-Final- 23.85sec 2012 Carifta- Bermuda- Gold-100m -11.22sec (w) 200m -22.85sec Second Austin Sealy Award for Most outstanding Athlete World Junior Championships, Barcelona Gold-100m-11.20sec (PB) , World leading Performance for 2012 200m-22.53sec New Championships record, (PB), World Leading Performance 2012, National Junior record Personal Bests- 11.20sec, 22.53sec Margin of Victory Based upon our research, the margin of victory of Strachan in this event was the largest ever in the event in the World Junior Championships. Second and third place were tied for 23.15sec. This means the margin was .62sec! The next closest margin to this was .60sec in 2006 in Beijing when Bulgarian Tezzhan Nairnova won in 22.99sec and Vanda Gomes from Brazil ran 23.59sec for the Silver medal.
Strachan is far from finished perfecting her start. In Barcelona her reaction time in the 100m was .207sec, the slowest of the field. She improved it in the 200m to .177sec, the fifth best time. With an emphasis on the correction of the start, it is believed Strachan’s time can improve significantly. Without a doubt The Bahamas has had brilliant female junior athletes on the world scene. Some have made it at the senior level. The London Olympic Games Few j unior athletes have won Olympic med als in the sprints while still j uniors. Strachan does have a good chance of making the finals in both 100m and 200m in London. Last year in Daegu Strachan made the semi-final of the 200m by running 23.09sec in the heats. Based upon the performances of athletes in the last two World Championships, they needed to run 11.16sec and 22.64sec to advance to the final. Sheniqua Ferguson has done those times this year. Strachan has done it in the 200m and Debbie Ferguson-Mckenzie has run 11.09secs last year. It is much more difficult to win a medal in those events. In Daegu the Bronze medals were won in 10.98sec and 22.42sec. In Berlin Bronze medals were won in 10.90sec 22.41sec . Debbie Ferguson-Mckenzie won the Bronze there. We await the performances of our women in the sprints in London.
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