By SHAVAUGHN MOSS

NG Sports Reporter

Three years since her retirement, the charismatic Pauline Davis-Thompson is still providing the Bahamian public with thrills and chills.

The Olympic medalist may not be stepping into the starting blocks to provide those spine-tingling moments of ecstasy Bahamians love, but she is coaching Bahamian quarter-milers Christine Amertil, Avard Moncur and Addis Huyler and sprinter Jamial Rolle continuing to give Bahamians a reason to be proud.

Pauline Davis-Thompson, the matriarch of Bahamian women's professional sprinting is giving back to a sport she loves and has gotten so much from. Track and field has brought Pauline a long way. In turn Pauline has done wonders for track and field amongst Bahamians.

Because of what she had done for and in sports, the 37-year-old has received one of the Commonwealth's highest awards, and is one of four Bahamian to receive of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) honourees in the Queen's 2004 New Year's Honours.

In July, 2001, at Government House, Davis-Thompson received the Bahamas Order of Merit award, which was bestowed upon her by then governor general Sir Orville Turnquest.

The award which commenced in 1996 was designed as a national honour for persons whose enterprise and effort added to the greatness of the Bahamian nation.

One week prior to receiving that honour, Davis-Thompson was awarded the Sir Lynden Pindling Award for Excellence.

She was also recognized by track and field's greats for what she has done in the sport and continues to do, even in retirement from active competition when they elected her to the International Association of Athletics Federations women's council, (August 2003) with the mandate of helping to mold the Olympic highlights of the next generation of women.

The road to the receipt of those awards was not an easy one. And Pauline did not travel the road just to receive awards. She travelled the road and stayed on course, through trials and tribulations because of what she loved. Perhaps it was about self-actualization, but she excelled at what she did, and the awards came naturally.

The great Pauline Davis-Thompson started out the way many of us did, without a silver spoon in our mouths. Like many of us, she was shown a path out of poverty, she took it and ran with it, having competed at seven IAAF World Outdoor Championships and five Olympic Games,

In her youthful years, well before she received professional training, she enchanted many Bahamians with her "lightning speed" on Fort Charlotte.

She knew she was fast because she consistently beat up on everyone. But like all youngsters who only think about fun, she literally had to be dragged out of bed to train, and thank God for those who dragged her. She has given Bahamians much to be proud of.

Davis-Thompson, is a member of The Bahamas' world-renowned Olympic and World Championships gold medalling sprint relay teams, along with Sevatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup, Debbie Ferguson and Eldece Clarke-Lewis, who became known as "The Golden Girls".

But Davis-Thompson, the country's original "Golden Girl" can also boast of being the first Bahamian to win an individual Olympic medal on the track; a silver in the 200 metres, won at the 2000 Sydney Games.

After that achievement she retired! No matter that she had run the best time of her career at the age of 34.

Pauline went out on her own terms, and at the top of her game, after more than 20 years of competitive running.

Leaving Sydney with two Olympic medals around her neck heads a long list of accomplishments for the sprinting star who during her professional career has ran the 100, 200 and 400 metres and held national records in the three events. She is currently the one-lap record holder (49.28 seconds ran in Atlanta in July, 1996).

Her stellar accomplishments on the track include a seventh place finish over 200 metres at the 1991 World Championships; A 200 metres bronze medal won at the 1990 Commonwealth Games; Bronze medals over 100 and 200 metres at the 1990 Commonwealth Games; And bronze medals in the 100 and 200 metres at the 1987 Pan American Games in 1987.

Pauline Elaine Davis started running track in primary school, but dabbled in everything.

Whatever the season, you were certain to find Pauline playing the sport, whether it be softball, field hockey, or basketball, Pauline played it, because she loved sports.

At the age of 13, she caught the eye of coach Neville Wisdom, coach of the Bain Town Flyers Track Club who had watched a videotaped race of her being beaten into a distant fourth place across the finish line. Eldece Clarke (now Clarke-Lewis) was the victor.

It wasn't Pauline pulling off the upset win or even challenging for the win that had caught Wisdom's eye. It was a certain something in her eye as she competed that told him she would be a champion.

Thus began the search on this little 21 x 7 mile island for little Pauline, as no one watching the tape with Wisdom could tell him who she was.

But Pauline was just a sprint away from Wisdom who also coached at Government High School. She was a student at the LW Young Senior High School, where she had to go after her files were lost in her transitionary year from junior to senior high.

She would have been right under Wisdom's nose at GHS, where she was supposed to attend, but was instead placed at the only school that could accommodate her.

Wisdom did not give up searching for the runner. He played the tape at his track club meetings, and one day Frank Rutherford - who later won the country's first Olympic track and field medal - a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Games, and who also attended LW Young realized he knew the girl.

Rutherford, a prefect told Wisdom of how he had sat-in for a teacher a day or two earlier, and he told Wisdom, the girl he sought had been in that class.

The rest, as they say, is history!

The next day Rutherford sought out Pauline under instruction from Wisdom. But Pauline, not knowing who Wisdom was told Rutherford, to tell Wisdom that she couldn't speak with him because her father, Lincoln, did not allow her to talk to men.

Rutherford who then became the messenger boy was mandated to find out where Pauline lived so that Wisdom could speak with her father.

The day Wisdom decided to pay Pauline's father a visit, was the one day he was late getting home from work. The young Pauline answered the door, and told him he had to wait outside.

If there is one thing Neville Wisdom is when he wants something, it's persistent. He believed in what he saw on the tape and waited.

He convinced Pauline's dad of her talent and he allowed her to join the Bain Town Flyers, a club which boasted most of the country's top athletes at the time.

For Pauline it seemed like a death sentence, because she had to become disciplined and be trained, whereas in the past, she was one of those persons who just went out and ran on natural ability.

The next morning before the roosters had even crowed, Wisdom was at Pauline's house at 4:30 a.m. knocking at her window (so as not to disturb the rest of the household) to get her up for her first official training session. He got no response. Pauline says she had heard him, but pretended she hadn't.

The trend continued for about two weeks until she got fed up and decided to go one morning, just so he would leave her alone.

When she got to the car, she found out she wasn't the only person Wisdom bothered at that ungodly hour. Also in the car was that Clarke girl, with whom she went on to become lifelong friends and win Olympic and World Championships gold with.

The memories of her first training day with Wisdom, 24 years after it happened are still as vivid to Pauline as if it was yesterday.

She remembers being dropped off on the side of the street and told to run to Goodman's Bay with Wisdom driving behind in his car screaming at them.

Pauline, as everyone knows can be stubborn when she wants to be, and she was no different in her teenage years. She paid Wisdom no mind and took her time, jogging along at the back of the group, doing everything she could to discourage him so that he would leave her alone, and get ideas out of his head about her becoming a great athlete.

Pauline says she just wanted to go back to playing any sport she wanted to and not be stuck with training only for track.

But she continued with the training sessions, until one day an accident occurred and the group took off to see what had happened. First on the scene of course was little Pauline, who had been trying to keep out of sight at the back of the pack. The only thing Wisdom did was walk up to her and said "gotcha now."

After spending just one year at LW Young, Pauline transferred to GHS where Wisdom kept his eye on her and many others who at that time made GHS a track and field power house known then as the Countrymen (now Magic). That crop of athletes also carried the Bahamian banner on the Caribbean circuit.

And it was during those glory days that Pauline was crowned the "Golden Girl".

In 1982 after winning four gold medals at the Fifth Junior Central American and Caribbean Track and Field Championships in Barbados. She swept the sprint races and the long jump.

But that feat was overshadowed as it wasn't done on home soil. Most remember her outstanding 1,600 metres relay anchor leg performance at Carifta two years later at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

She received the baton out of medal contention in fourth place and reeled in every runner in front of her to give her team the gold and The Bahamas the Carifta win.

Going into that final race, The Bahamas and Jamaica were tied in medal and point standings, and the only way for The Bahamas to win was for the relay team to come out with the gold. I guess that "thing" that Wisdom saw in her eyes three years earlier showed up, because she did what Wisdom knew she was capable of. Sixteen-year-old Pauline rose to the challenge, and gave The Bahamas the win and pride on home soil.

That year she also started running world class times. She ran a junior world record and made her first of five Olympic squads.

Young Pauline carried the Bahamian banner into the 1984 Los Angeles Games, where she stunned the world and showed them what this little country can produce, by getting through to the semifinals.

Everyone took notice then! Except the University of Florida, which had shown an interest in her since she was 14.

But after the semifinal showing at the Olympics, Wisdom's telephone rang off the hook as collegiate scouts sought to entice her to take her talent to their institution. But Wisdom had ideas of his own for his pride and joy. He wanted her to attend Hampton Institute (now Hampton College) where he had a relationship with coach Laverne Sweat. (Eldece Clarke also attended the institution).

The outspoken Pauline had other ideas. She had been making inquiries because she wanted to attend a top college with a good academic and athletic programme.

She found out that the Southeastern Conference (SEC) was the most competitive in the United States and immediately wanted to attend a school there.

Also playing an important factor in her decision was the fact that she did not want to go to a school with a lot of Bahamians and the fact that her mother Merle Davis-Toussaint wanted her to get the best education.

Pauline's life while full of celebration for her outstanding performances and medal wins on the track, wasn't rosy behind the scenes. She says she was treated poorly by a lot of the more senior athletes during her junior years.

"I was talked bad to, treated badly, and a lot of times I used to go on those trips and feel badly because of the way they would talk to me. So basically I stuck to myself a lot because I didn't want to be around them," she said as she thought back.

"I would be depressed a lot on those trips because of the way I was treated, and I didn't want to be in an environment like that. I wanted to spread my wings, and be someplace where I could grow and not hear all the negatives around me, so I didn't want to go to Hampton," she said.

Pauline literally plucked the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama out of the air.

"I just wanted a fresh start and wanted to go somewhere where I could just grow and be myself," she said.

As a Crimson Tide, Pauline helped the school to a national title in her freshman year, and for two consecutive years after that. She won the NCAA 200 metres in 1988 in 22.76-seconds, but the most thrilling moment of her collegiate career was winning the 400 metres in a meet record (50.18 seconds) in her senior year in 1989.

After graduating from the U of A with a bachelor's in English and Communication and a minor in Business, Pauline ventured onto the European track and field circuit.

Competing there had not been uppermost in her mind while in college, but her coach encouraged her to give the professional ranks a try.

He gave Pauline her first ticket to Europe and a contact number and she was off to her first professional meet - by herself.

She got a rude awakening when she arrived in France during a period when terrorist bombings were prevalent.

Pauline vividly remembers flying Eastern Airlines, which got her into New York late and caused her to miss her connecting flight to France. Because there wasn't another flight out that night she slept under the benches in the airport, too scared to venture outside because she had heard too many bad things about the city.

She arrived in France a day late. No one was at the airport to meet her, and she had trouble communicating with the people when she contacted them.

In the midst of trying to overcome a language barrier, her bags which she hadn't been paying attention exploded.

She dropped the phone and turned around to see one of her bags on fire. She ran over to it, and was promptly grabbed by two officers who hauled her off to an interrogation room where she was held and accused of being a terrorist for almost five hours.

Pauline says she felt a myriad of emotions during that period. "At first I was upset and rowing them out, and then I became silent and wasn't saying anything. Then I started crying uncontrollably, because nobody knew where I was and what had happened. Those people could have killed me. Anything could have happened to me in that room," she said.

After things had calmed down, officials went through her belongings and the only thing that hadn't burned was the bottom of her spike shoes which helped confirm that she was an athlete.

Officials called the hotel to confirm that she was supposed to be there. Things worked out, and Pauline received an apology.

After being let go, Pauline checked into her hotel, then headed to the track and barely had time to warm up for her event. She ran 22.66-seconds and finished second in the 200 metres.

From the start of her professional track career things seemed to be against Pauline succeeding, but instead of deterring her, the setbacks only made her stronger.

"It made me mad as hell," she said of that first incident, which would not be the last harrowing moment for her.

One year later, in Italy, she had again missed her flight and had to sleep on an airport bench. She awoke when she heard a clicking sound in her ear. Standing over Pauline was an officer, holding a gun to her temple. She was so scared, she urinated on herself.

Again faced with a language barrier, Pauline was dragged into a holding cell where she tried to communicate as best she could with officers, until she was recognised by one of the officers and the situation worked itself out.

Both the French and Italian incidents gave Pauline the strength she says to be who she is. Because of her love for track, nothing was going to deter her from doing what she loved.

Year in and year out she trained and ran. She even got depressed about the reminders that she was the only Bahamian female athlete on the circuit and had no one out there affiliated with her culture. But she kept herself upbeat and threw off the detractors telling them that there were others, but they just hadn't arrived yet.

Pauline carried the Bahamian banner alone for a long time. And it was difficult for her emotionally and financially.

But when "the others" arrived Pauline and company showed them. Pauline along with Sevatheda, Chandra, Debbie and Eldece captured the silver medal in the women's sprint relay at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

They then stood atop the medal podium at the 1999 Seville World Championships, and proved it wasn't a fluke when they captured the gold one year later at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Pauline came out of the Sydney Games a double medalist, making history as the first Bahamian to capture an individual medal on the track. She ran to the silver in the 200 metres in the best time of her life (22.27-seconds).

The matriarch of Bahamian women's professional sprinting then retired at the age of 34, at the top of her game and on her own terms after her fifth Olympic Games appearance.

Two years before retiring from competition, Pauline was married to former Jamaican 400 metres hurdler Mark Anthony Thompson, whom she met at the 1992 Barcelona, Spain, Olympic Games.

The fairytale-styled ceremony was held at The New Annex Baptist Cathedral, with thousands of Bahamian fans and well-wishers on hand seeking to catch a glimpse of their Bahamian heroine.

Pauline Davis-Thompson's career achievements

Year Accomplishment Event Country

2000 Gold medallist 400m relay Olympic Games Sydney, Australia

2000 Silver medalist 200m Olympic Games Sydney, Australia

1999 Gold medallist 400m relay IAAF World Outdoor Championships Seville, Spain

1999 Bronze medallist 200m IAAF World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan

1998 Silver medallist 400m relay Goodwill Games New York, USA

1997 Finalist 400m relay IAAF World Outdoor Championships Athens, Greece

1996 Silver medallist 400m relay Olympic Games Atlanta, USA

1995 Silver medallist 400m IAAF World Outdoor Championships Gothenburg, Sweden

1994 Finalist 200m Commonwealth Games Victoria, Canada

1993 Finalist 200m IAAF World Championships Stuttgart, Germany

1992 Semi-finalist 100m, 200m Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain

1991 Finalist 200m IAAF World Championships Tokyo, Japan

1990 Silver medallist 200m Goodwill Games Seattle, USA

1990 Bronze medallist 100m, 200m Commonwealth Games Auckland, New Zealand

1988 Gold medalist 200m NCAA Championships

1989 Bronze medallist 400m relay IAAF World Cup Barcelona, Spain

1989 Gold medallist 1,600m relay IAAF World Cup Barcelona, Spain

1989 400m champion NCAA Championships Provo, Utah

1987 Bronze medallist 100m, 200m Pan American Games Indianapolis, Indiana

1987 Semi-finalist 100m, 200m IAAF World Outdoor Championships Rome

1984 Finalist 400m relay Olympic Games Los Angeles, USA

1984 Semi-finalist 100m, 200m Olympic Games Los Angeles, USA

1984 Austin Sealy Award, Most Outstanding Athlete Carifta Games Nassau, New Providence

1984 Champion 100m, 200m, 1,600m relay Carifta Games Nassau, New Providence

1983 Semi-finalists 100m, 200m IAAF World Outdoor Championships Helsinki, Finland

1983 Gold medallist Carfita Games Martinique

1982 Medallist Carifta Games Kingston, Jamaica

1982 Gold medallist 100m, 200m, 400m relay, 1,600m relay Jr Central American and Caribbean Track and Field Championships Barbados

National Honours

Year Award

2001 Order of Merit

2001 Sports Heroes Hall of Fame

2000 Athlete of the Decade award

1998 Silver Jubilee award

Regional Honours

Year Award

2002 Recognised by the Carifta Games Organisation for contributions to the development of Caribbean track and field

1984 Austin Sealy Award for most outstanding performance at the Carifta Games

Elected offices

2003 - Elected to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) women's council.

Caption: Pauline Davis-Thompson raises her hands in victory just moments after winning the silver medal in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Walking along with Pauline is teammate Debbie Ferguson. Photo by Donald Knowles

Posted: Monday January 12, 2004