The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RIO de Janeiro, Brazil: In the Bahamas' first relay appearance in the Olympic Games, the team of Lanece Clarke, Anthonique Strachan, Carmiesha Cox and Christine Amertil ran a national record, but it wasn't fast enough to get them into the final of the women's 4 x 400 metre relay.

Friday night at the Olympic Stadium, the quartet's time of three minutes and 26.36 seconds placed the Bahamas sixth in the last of the two heats and that turned out to be the 11th best performance, three spots shy of joining the men, who followed by clinching their berth in Saturday night's finale.

Not bad for a team that had a season's best of 3:30.34 from the Blue Marlins' Invitational - after waiting on a final ruling by the Court of Arbitration on the Russian team, which was under a doping suspension, in order to secure their historic appearance.

The question, however, on the minds of most Bahamians, is whether they would have qualified if they had Olympic gold medallist Shaunae Miller in the line-up. Miller was still recovering the bruises she sustained in winning the gold medal in the women's 400m on Monday night.

Jamaica took the race in a season's best of 3:22.38 for the second fastest qualifying time behind the United States of America, who won heat one in their SB of 3:21.42. The other two automatic qualifiers out of the Bahamas heat were Poland, second in 3:25.34, and Australia, third in 3:25.71, both SBs.

"I didn't get to see much if what happened because of the holding pattern that they are using now," said Amertil, a veteran of five Olympics, who was overjoyed just to be finally running on a mile relay at the biggest stage in the world. "When I stepped up, it was the first time that I saw where we were in the race.

"I just really went for it and really gave it a little too much at the beginning, but that is what you have to do. This is the Olympic Games and so you can't really hold back, I just faded at the end."

Despite not advancing, Amertil said they were pleased with their effort, breaking the old mark of 3:28.46. She admitted that, now that they have broken the barrier, we can expect bigger and better things from the Bahamas women's mile relay team in the future.

Too exhausted after their performances, neither Strachan nor Cox had the energy to speak.

But Clarke, who got the team off to fifth place right in the middle of the pack, said it was such a tremendous feeling when she stepped out and heard the support from the crowd. The 28-year-old, making her Olympic debut, said she knew that she had three runners waiting to deliver so she did the best she could.

"I'm very proud of the four ladies," she stated. "We went out there and gave it our best and to come out with a national record is a plus. The goal was to make it to the final, but I'm still pleased with the national record."

Once she brought it in, 22-year-old Strachan, coming of her 200m first round appearance, stayed with the field and maintained her position. On the third leg, 21-year-old Cox moved up one spot and gave the baton to Amertil in fourth. As the most experienced member of the team, the 36-year-old Amertil held her position until she came onto the final straight where she was caught and passed by Germany, who got fifth in 3:26.02.