file -Bobby-Gaye Wilkins

Raymond Graham, Freelance Writer

AFTER piloting Holmwood Technical to 4x800 metres glory in her final year at the Penn Relays in April, little did Bobby-Gaye Wilkins know that in a few months' time at the Jamaica National Championships, she would have gone under 51 seconds in the 400 metres and in the process earned for herself a ticket to the Beijing Olympic Games.

teenagers

Wilkins, who turns 20 on September 10, will be the youngest member of Jamaica's track and field team to Beijing. She joins a select band of Jamaican women who have made the Olympic track and field team as teenagers. Una Morris was 17 when she finished fourth in the 200m final at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Claudine Williams, at 16, reached the second round of the 400m at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain.

Watching her at the Boys' and Girls' Championships in March, there was every indication that she was something special. After getting the baton in the 4x400m some 30m behind the Edwin Allen athlete on the anchor leg, she made up tremendous ground to clock a sub-51 seconds to take her team to victory.

Going into the Jamaica Championships, she was given little or no chance to reach the final, as, based on form, the Jamaican seniors were all on fire and she would have to do the unbelievable to make the top six. Although she recorded 51.72 to win the Junior Pan Am 400 metres in a championships record in Brazil last year, she would have to go under that to make the team.

After posting a personal best of 50.87 in her semi-final, she showed that she was ready to take on her more senior rivals in the final. Showing consistency, she recorded another sub-51 seconds time in the final, as she finished fifth in 50.98, to book her ticket to Beijing. Since then, she has gone on to become North American Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Under-23 champion as she did 51.34 to win the 400 metres in Mexico.

Shortly before leaving for Beijing on Tuesday, Wilkins expressed her joy at making the team. "I am very happy that I was able to make the Olympic team. As a schoolgirl as I trained very hard and the hard work paid off. I was happy to know that I had done my personal best and to finish in the top six," she said.

Wilkins, who is hoping to at least run in the preliminary round of the 4x400m, had high praises for her coach and supporters.

motivation

"I am very thankful to my coach, Mr Maurice Wilson and the people who all believed in me as they gave me the motivation, and without them I would not have made it."

She went on to heap high praises on others like Pat Anderson, the former JAAA president, Dr Paul Auden, a stalwart in track and field in the central areas of the island, along with the coaching staff and teachers at Holmwood Technical. All, she said, have played important roles in her career so far.

"Going to Beijing, I am going to take advantage of this experience, as I am young and this will set the platform for my track career," said Wilkins, who will be attending GC Foster College next month.