IMPACT ON BARBADOS

Barbadian athletes return home

Man of the Moment: Bradley Ally, the first Caribbean swimmer to reach the semi-finals at the Beijing Olympic Games, is greeted at the airport by Lady Forde, mother of swimmer Martyn Forde

Swimmers Bradley Ally and Andrei Cross returned home to Barbados from the Beijing Olympics with a renewed commitment to train and compete as they look towards the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

Along with runners Ryan M. Brathwaite and Jade Bailey, they were greeted by loud applause, lots of hugs and broad smiles at the Grantley Adams International Airport. Swimmers Terrence Haynes and Martyn Forde arrived one day later, while sprinter Andrew Hinds went to Europe with his fellow Jamaican-based MVP teammates.

Ally said part of the motivation came from missing the finals of the 200 metres individual medley by the slimmest of margins.

"The final was switched from the afternoon to morning. I wouldn't look back and say I was disappointed because I gave it my all, but that is just going to motivate me to train harder in the water. It is just a part of the game and you have to take it as it comes," said Ally, who set two new national records in the 400 and 200 metres IM, reaching the semi-finals of the latter.

"The 200IM is my best event. It is challenging and I like to do it. I have been working on it for a long time and it came out to be a successful race."

Another motivating factor was seeing American phenom Michael Phelps who won a record eight gold medals and set seven world records.

"It is always good to be around great swimmers. They encourage you to swim faster and they motivate you to train harder and that is what I am looking forward to doing, to get back into the pool and improve on things that need to be improved upon, and see where it takes me from there," he said.

The Florida-based swimmer said there was a lot that could be done to smooth the way for the next four years, including refining his programme at the University of Florida at Gainesville and with more support from Barbados, since his family had supported him through it all.

Snowball effect

"I'll just try to stay healthy, race a lot and hopefully this could turn into a snowball effect and just get bigger and better in the future," he said, adding his confidence was also much higher after the Olympics.

"It was definitely a good accomplishment. I'd like to say it can be done. I am pretty pleased with my performance as well as Ryan's [Brathwaite]. It just goes to show Barbados can do it," said Ally.

Cross didn't make it out of the heats of the 100 metres breaststroke, but he described it as "absolutely amazing" and was looking ahead to London.

"My race wasn't the greatest performance I've ever done, but the experience was beyond anything that I could think of. I am really happy that I made it this far. I have a lot more work to do to get better and to do better things for Barbados and myself. I am just looking forward to the future," Cross said.

He and the rest of the Barbados contingent were met by Steve Stoute, president of the Barbados Olympic Association; BOA manager Glyne Clarke; Dave Farmer, head of the Olympic museum and former head of the Aquatic Centre; Sonia Oneal, president of the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association, coaches Abdul Sharif and Antonio Petrolando, David Leslie of the Amateur Athletic Association; Lady Forde; Cicely Spencer-Cross, the Brathwaite family from Hillaby, St Andrew as well as members of the Rising Stars Club. (Barbados Nation)