The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

LONDON, England — After a full week’s rest in the games village, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace woke up with an adrenaline rush that sent a shock wave through the Aquatics Centre as the Bahamas began its competition at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Not only are the Chinese and Americans here to swim well, so is the lone Bahamian competitor, who wasn’t even aware that she swam as fast as she did on Wednesday morning.

Competing in lane seven in the sixth of seven heats in the Women’s 100m Freestyle in the first event of the day on Wednesday, Vanderpool-Wallace was the first to dip into the pool with a reaction time of 0.65.

After touching the wall in first place in her 50 free split in 28.13, Vanderpool-Wallace was untouchable on the way back to the finish line. She came through at the wall in 53.73 seconds for a new Bahamian national record.

Her old record was 54.28 that she set concluding her four-year sting as a member of Auburn’s Tigers swim team this year.

The time was also the 13th best time recorded so far this year and was the fastest ever done by any Caribbean swimmer of all time, but just shy of the lifetime achievement of 53.30 in the region by American Dana Vollmer on July 31, 2009.

In the process, Vanderpool-Wallace qualified for the semifinal that was held later in the evening with the sixth fastest time.

“I wanted to execute well,” said Vanderpool-Wallace as she spoke to the Bahamian media after the race. “I wanted to go into the first 50 as confident as possible and come out of the wall as fast as I could and that is what I did.”

When asked if she was aware of her fate, Vanderpool-Wallace said: “No. But I wanted to be right there in the top eight going into the semifinal and that was what I did.”

With one of the top competitors in Australia’s Cate Campbell not showing up to compete in lane six, Vanderpool-Wallace said she wasn’t going to let it get to her.

“I’m ready to go, I’m ready for Thursday,” she said, thinking about a possible final.

But there were still the semifinals to deal with at that stage. She said: “It’s a couple of things that I know I did wrong in that race and I still have a lot left in the tank, so I’m going to go as fast as I can.”

Even though it wasn’t a “perfect race” for the NCAA champion from Auburn University, Vanderpool-Wallace said she and personal coach Brett Hawke would discuss what went wrong and hopefully make any adjustments.

“I’m really excited because I know I can really go faster in the semifinals,” she said.

“All year I’ve been working on a few things and so I’m ready to go faster. Anything could happen in the semifinal. I’m just going to go out and see what happens.”

Vanderpool-Wallace said she felt a great vibe from the Bahamians waving flags and cheering for her in the stands, on Wednesday morning.

Among those present were Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Dr Daniel Johnson and his Director of Sports, Tim Munnings, Bahamas Olympic Committee president Wellington Miller and his secretary general Romel Knowles, chef de mission Roy Colebrooke and Bahamas Swimming Federation president Algernon Cargill.

There were a number of team members from the athletic team that also attended. Among the list were sprinter Chandra Sturrup, quarter-miler Christine Amertil and IAAF World and Olympic 400 champion Tonique Williams-Darling, who is a member of the officials squad for Team Bahamas.

“The entire track team is either watching me or will be watching tonight, so it’s a pretty good feeling to have all of those people here supporting me,” said Vanderpool-Wallace, whose parents were also in the stands.

Vanderpool-Wallace said her specialty remained in the 50m Freestyle on Friday when she is due to compete out of lane two in the last of 10 heats. She enters with her national record of 24.79. The 50m semifinal will also be held on Friday, but the final takes place on Saturday.