Elton Tucker, Assistant Editor
Jamaica's Alia Atkinson swims in a women's 200-metre breaststroke heat, during the swimming competition in the National Aquatics Centre, at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, yesterday. - AP
BEIJING, China
JAMAICAN SWIMMER Alia Atkinson, who failed in her bid to qualify for the semi-finals of the 200 metres backstroke at the Beijing Olympics yesterday, is looking forward to a better finish at the 2012 Games in London.
"My dream is to be on that stand," said Atkinson, who broke her own national record by almost two seconds in the event yesterday.
Sports Minister Olivia Grange watched from the stands, along with Jamaica Olympic Association president, Mike Fennell, as Atkinson clocked two minutes 29.53 seconds for second spot in heat two. Siow Yi Ting of Malaysia won in 2:27.80.
However, Atkinson needed to have slashed at least two more seconds off her previous personal best of 2:31.28 to make the final 18.
Huge disappointment
The 19-year-old two-time Olympian, who had targeted a semi-final spot at this year's Games, described her failure to advance from the heats as a huge disappointment, but expressed some satisfaction at getting her personal best below 2:30.
"I felt strong coming back so that's a good thing," she said.
The Florida-based swimmer admitted that she started slowly yesterday, but said that was all part of the plan.
"For the 200m backstroke I can't really get into the stroke until the second 100m so my goal was not to rush it because if I did that I would die in the second 100m," Atkinson said.
Jevon Atkinson and Natasha Moodie, the other two members of the swim team here, will be in action today and tomorrow, respectively, in the 50 metres freestyle heats.
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