Ferguson-McKenzie Reflects on 2012, Eyes 2013 World Champ

“It wasn’t one of my better times or my better Games but I am very thankful and I still feel I walked away a winner,” said 36 year-old Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, who was competing in her 5^th Olympics Games in London.  Ferguson continues “I am proud of myself; prior to the Games, I was unable to train and compete but I was able to run 11.32 seconds in the 100m [in London].” Plagued by an ankle injury during the 2012 season, Ferguson was severely hampered in her preparations for the London Games. She is currently in her off-season mode and is resting her ankle. “I intentionally haven’t started anything as yet but I will start in October,” said Ferguson, who has her eyes set on competing at the 2013 World Championship in Russia. Ferguson knows how it feels to stand atop the podium at the Olympics Games, as she was a member of the Bahamian “Golden Girls”  relay team that won the 4x1 relay gold at the 2000 Sydney Games. Ferguson along with Chandra Sturrup, Sevatheda Fynes, and Pauline Davis-Thompson won the gold medal for Bahamas. Despite her 11.32 seconds performance in the recent Olympics, Ferguson feels she still has a lot left in the tank. On the Golden Knights performance In assessing the Bahamas men’s 4x4 relay team performance at the London 2012 Olympics, Ferguson said “We are very proud of them and in my opinion I think the gold medal was theirs to lose.” Ferguson noted that she realized that the gold medal was in Bahamas’s favor, when American LaShawn Merritt withdrew from the Games with a hamstring injury. “The race was for Bahamas to win and they did just that, so I am very proud of them,” she said. Ferguson also emphasized the impact that the victory has on the people of Bahamas as well as the broader Caribbean community as a whole. “They were able to inspire the entire country and that’s what the Olympic Games is all about,” said Ferguson. “I am glad they were able to give the Bahamian people that good feeling” Ferguson, who congratulated the men’s relay team immediately after its gold winning performance, said “We watched their performance live and it was nerve-wrecking but we have faith in them and they had faith in themselves and they performed excellently.” Credits the Coaching Staff Ferguson said that Coach Henry Rolle should be credited for setting up the race. She praised the coach’s insight in changing the order of the runners by placing Chris Brown, Demetrius Pinder and Michael Mathieu on the first three legs and placing the youngster, Ramon Miller on the final leg. “Michael  ran an excellent 3^rd leg and Ramon Miller, a young man with a lot of heart, I am so proud of him, he is still the youngest but there’s a lot more to come in the future from him. That was just a great race.” “In my opinion the Caribbean did well for themselves.  Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada all did very well. I think that every major Republic in the region basically had something to celebrate. So I am very proud of our region,” said Ferguson Optimum Uses of Young Talent While the Bahamian 4x4 men’s took home the gold medal, the London 2012 Olympics was very challenging for the Bahamian team as a whole. Armed with a nice core of young talent in Anthonique Strachan, Shaunae Miller among others, the Bahamian women team came up empty. When asked about the young talent, Ferguson responded: “I am excited but I am cautious. I’ve always told the local federation that we have talent.  At the end of the day we see talent come and goes…but what’s important is what the system does with the talent.” Perhaps Ferguson’s cautious optimism stems from the fact that despite the high quality of young talent, Bahamian failed to qualify for the women’s 4x1 and 4x4 relays.  Countries having the top-16 relay times qualified to compete in London. “Last year in Korea (Daegu) I sent an email to the [local federation] saying that we need to get our act together as far as the relays are concern….we didn’t in Korea and I feel we didn’t this time around in London,”  said Ferguson. Ferguson is optimistic that the Bahamian federation will finally get it together and things will be different going forward. “I am hopeful we can get it together in the future… so we can talk about talent as much as we want to… but at the end of day we have to do something with it.” On Retirement Ferguson, who has a lifetime best 10.91 seconds in the 100m and 22.19 seconds in the 200m, will be aiming for her 9^th World Championship appearance in Russia next year. The consistent Ferguson made her World Championship debut in 1995 and competed in every World Championships since, except the 2005 Helsinki World Championship. “I am very excited about 2013 World Championship Games. My first priority is healing, and once I am healed I can take it from there; I’m not afraid of hard work and no, I’m not retiring as yet,” said Ferguson   Like us on Facebook