Bailey Ready for Olympics

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Thursday, 17 May 2012 02:30

By Ian Magic Hughes

Antigua St John's - Antigua & Barbuda’s main prospect for a medal at this summer’s Olympics, sprinter Daniel “Bakka” Bailey, is ready for the London Games.

Caribarena.com caught up with Bailey at the Yasco Sports Complex during a training session with childhood coach Carl Casey on Wednesday.

His training programme was low key, but Bailey was excited about his prospects of leading Antigua & Barbuda to the international event.

“I feel good,” he said. “I’m right where I should be at this point of my training as I look ahead to the competition in England.”

The sprinter is coming off an injury that kept him out of competition for months, but is back at full throttle with Jamaican coach Glenn Mills.

Bailey trains alongside world record holder Usain Bolt and world champion Yohann Blake, both of Jamaica.

Recently, at the Jamaica invitational, Bailey clocked 10.10 in the 100 metres - a time that the Antiguan is positive will improve by the time the gun goes off for the London Games.

Asked whether he is concerned that his rivals, like Kim Collins of St Kitts along with the American sprinters and the Jamaicans, are seemingly running at a faster clip, Bailey was firm.

“I’m confident that the programme my coach has me on will put me at peak level by race day, I am not worried about other people's times. We all still have to come out and perform their best on race day,” he said.

With a personal best of 9.91 in the 100, Bailey knows that he will have to up his game to find the podium against perhaps the fastest field in the history of the sport.

While Bailey is looking forward to the personal events, he is beaming more about the likelihood of representing team Antigua & Barbuda in the 4X100 metres relay.

It may be a long shot, but Bailey is optimistic that with some quality competition, an Antigua & Barbuda team could book a spot in London.

This year, the top 16 times in the world will qualify for the Olympics, unlike previous years when countries simply sent respective teams to participate.

Bailey, along with Brendan Christian, Tahir Walsh, Cejhae Greene, Kasheen Coulbourne, Chavaughn Walsh, and Jared Jarvis are tipped to make a run for the relay.

“I would love that,” Bailey said. “That would be so good for us (Antigua & Barbuda) if we were able to do something like that, and we have a chance. Obviously we would have to train hard together passing the baton and making sure we have a good relationship and a feel for each other as a team on the track.”



Bailey’s next race will be the New York Diamond League before heading to Canada, after which he will travel to Europe to officially train for the London Games.

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