The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — Every time Pedrya Seymour stepped onto the track at the Olympic Stadium to compete, she looked up to the skies to acknowledge her deceased brother, Keron Dean, whom she dedicated her season to.

At the same token, the national record holder also had her parents, Pedro and Cecily Seymour, in the stands cheering her on.

This was Seymour’s first time competing at the Olympics and her mom said they were not going to miss the trip to Rio for anything in the world.

They got there on Friday, August 12, and got there just in time to watch their only daughter compete on the biggest sporting stage in the world in the heats on Tuesday, August 16 and the semi-final and final the following day on Wednesday, August 17.

“This was our first time watching her compete and it was phenomenal,” said Mrs Seymour, whose daughter made her international breakthrough when she represented the Bahamas at the IAAF World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in April.

“It was just a thrill to watch her compete.”

But like any parent, Mrs Seymour said she definitely felt the “goose bumps,” but she was more than elated when she noticed that she had broken her own national record in the semi-final and qualified for the final.

In the final, Seymour finished sixth, but Mrs Seymour said it didn’t matter.

Her daughter had completed one of her goals and that was to make it to the final. Mrs Seymour said her daughter also wanted to win a medal, but she will settle for the record-breaking performance 12.47 seconds, which in her mind is a medal in itself.

“I feel as if she did an excellent job. She wanted to PR and she surpassed that,” Mrs Seymour said. “I dreamt about it, but when I saw the time, I said ‘yes Lord, you did it for her.’ Whatever she does, I know she is going to do it very well, so I wasn’t concerned at all about her performance.”

In what has been one of the most remarkable accomplishments, not just for the Bahamas but the sport in general, Seymour only converted from a 400 hurdles specialist to a high hurdles superstar in the straight away race in just four months of training.

Unheard of, especially to go all the way and advance to the final at the Olympics in their debut.

“The Olympic experience was great for us,” Mrs Seymour said. “The only problem that we had was that we were not able to visit her at the Olympic Village where the athletes stayed. We sent in all of the information (to the Bahamas Olympic Committee) and the only response that we got was that we would be able to see her on Saturday, but it was pointless because she left on Friday.”

Eventually after 21-year-old Seymour competed, her parents managed to meet in the city and they spent a good portion of the day celebrating her feat.

While her parents returned home on Monday, Seymour headed back to the University of Illinois where she will get ready for her senior season.

Mrs Seymour said there has already been numerous requests from agents and coaches trying to lure her out of school and into the professional ranks.

But Mrs Seymour said her daughter, who graduated from St Anne’s High School, is on an athletic scholarship and they have impressed upon her the importance of ensuring that she completes her collegiate degree before she turns pro.

“The money will always be there and if the people are so much interested in her, then they could wait until she finishes school,” Mrs Seymour said. “She went off to get a college degree and we want her to complete that and then she can look at going pro.”

Although they are not a wealthy family, the money can wait, according to Mrs Seymour. Her education, she stressed, won’t in her quest to complete her degree in communications.

And based on the way her daughter has progressed so rapidly this year, Mrs Seymour said they are already making plans to go to London, England for the 2017 IAAF World Championships and possibly the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

“We had such a wonderful time watching our daughter compete that we want to do it again,” she stated. “It was such a good time, but we only wish that as parents of the athletes, we can get together so that everybody who is going can do something for the athletes while they are there competing.”