Gold still the goal
Brown ruled out of sprint relay, but
Kwame Laurence In Beijing
Monday, August 18th 2008
Trinidad and Tobago will not have the services of Darrel Brown for the men's 4 x100 metres relay, at the 2008 Olympic Games here in Beijing, China.
This was confirmed yesterday by Team T&T chef-de-mission Michael Valentine.
Brown suffered a grade two hamstring tear in the quarter-final round of the 100m dash, and hobbled to the line eighth and last in his heat in 10.93 seconds.
But though T&T will not be at full strength for the sprint relay, 100m silver medallist Richard Thompson is convinced that gold is still attainable.
"We're still planning to approach it the same way. We still want the same result. We want a gold medal and nothing is going to stop us from accomplishing that."
Either Keston Bledman or Emmanuel Callender will team up with Marc Burns, Aaron Armstrong and Thompson for the 4x100m.
Armstrong and Rondell Sorillo were at the Bird's Nest stadium here in Beijing after press time last night (T&T time), competing in the opening round of the men's 200m. The T&T sprinters were bidding for berths in the quarter-final round, scheduled to start at 8.05 this morning.
Also on show last night were quarter-milers Renny Quow and Ato Modibo, hammer thrower Candice Scott and sprint hurdler Mikel Thomas.
Rhonda Watkins will be in action tonight (T&T time), in the women's long jump qualifying competition. First jump is at 9.40.
And at 10.45, at the Peking University Gymnasium, France-based table tennis pro Dexter St Louis squares off against Canada's Zhang Peng in a men's singles preliminary round showdown. The winner will play Japan's Seiya Kishikawa.
At the Bird's Nest stadium, yesterday, Aleesha Barber and Josanne Lucas exited in the opening round of their respective events.
Barber finished fourth in the fifth women's 100m hurdles heat. The T&T athlete's 13.01 seconds clocking earned her 18th spot overall.
And Lucas was sixth in heat four of the women's 400m hurdles and 23rd overall. She stopped the clock at 57.76 seconds, well outside her 55.29 national record.
Coming off the final bend, Lucas was in fourth spot but struggled coming home and faded to sixth.
"Before the race," a disappointed Lucas told the Express, "I felt nice and loose, ready to go. In fact, even throughout the race--comfortable, holding a good position. Last three hurdles killed me. My legs got the best of me.
"Unfortunately," she continued, "I got injured in practice (last) Sunday, but it's not something I focused on. I got a small (hamstring) tear, very small. It's a minor injury. I've bounced back from these many times, and I treated this race as a final. I knew I had a 54."
