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Friday, June 19, 2009

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Brown looking forward to coming home By SHELDON LONGLEY ~ NG Sports Editor ~ slongley@nasguard.com: Now that Chris Brown has re-established himself as a threat to reckon with this season, the Bahamian national record holder in the men's 400 meters (m) is just looking forward to coming home and taking part in the Bahamas Association of Athletics Associations (BAAA) National Championships. As revealed last month, Brown can certainly look forward to something else - putting another international medal around his neck, this time the country's first major outdoor meet gold medal for males on the track. As a result of a doping admission from Antonio Pettigrew, the American gold medal winning team from the 2001 Edmonton World Championships were stripped of their gold medals. The Bahamas' team of Avard Moncur, who won the open 400 that year, Brown, Troy McIntosh, Timothy Munnings and Carl Oliver, were upgraded from the silver medal position, and with the gold medals now being in the possession of the BAAA, the quintet will apparently receive those medals in a special ceremony prior to the BAAA Nationals. "It feels good that the medals are here waiting for us, but I'm especially glad for my teammates - guys like Tim and Carl who really deserved to go out on top," said Brown. "We just have to give God all the praise and all the credit. We did what we had to do to get the job done on the track, and it's good to come away with the gold medals. It would have been good to actually get the medals in Edmonton, but it's better late than never," he added. Pettigrew's doping admission also caused the United States the gold medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, a decision that is set to propel The Bahamas from fourth to third. The Americans were already under scrutiny from those Olympics given the positive drug test for Jerome Young in 1999. Young didn't run in the Olympic final and Young's teammates on the 1,600m relay team were consequently reinstated as the gold medalists, but after Pettigrew's admission, the decision was re-visited. "Well, doping is a big thing in sports even though I don't wish anything on anyone," said Brown. "I'm just happy to know that the gold medals are home waiting on us though. It's a big accomplishment and we're all happy. We have been chasing this medal for a while behind the U.S. and it's truly a blessing from the Lord. I spoke to Carl and Troy, and the guys are all excited. We never brought home a gold medal before so it feels good. We would have liked to beat them to the line, but this is like a blessing in disguise," he added. Just this past weekend, Brown became the third Bahamian to win the opening leg of the Golden League series, joining Chandra Sturrup in 2003 and Tonique Williams-Darling, who is still the only Bahamian to win all six Golden League races, in 2004. In 2001, Brown ran the second leg for The Bahamas which finished second on the track, in what was at the time a national record of 2:58.19. The Americans crossed the finish line first in 2:57.54. This past Sunday, Brown ran 45.61 seconds to take the DKB-ISTAF Golden League meet in Berlin, Germany - the site of the outdoor World Championships this year. Fellow Bahamians Michael Matthieu and Andretti Bain were third and seventh in times of 45.92 and 46.82 seconds respectively. Meanwhile, Shamar Sands, who finished fourth in the men's 110m hurdles in that Golden League meet in 13.56 seconds, broke his national record for the second time this year when he ran 13.38 seconds at the Golden Spike Grand Prix meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic on Wednesday. Sands finished third behind Cuban world record holder Dayron Robles, 13.04 seconds, and American Dexter Faulk, 13.13 seconds. Just like the men's 400m, the men's 110m hurdles is also a Golden League jackpot event this year. Friday, June 19, 2009