The Bahamas competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's fourteenth appearance at the Olympics, except the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the United States boycott.
The Bahamas Olympic Association sent a total of 22 athletes, 13 men and 9 women, to compete only in athletics (the nation's strongest field), swimming, and tennis. The Bahamian team featured numerous athletes who entered the Games as medal contenders in their respective events, including Tonique Williams-Darling, Chandra Sturrup, Debbie Ferguson, and Chris Brown. Sprinter Debbie Ferguson, who helped the Bahamian team claim their first gold medal in the women's 4 × 100 m relay, was appointed by the association to carry the nation's flag in the opening ceremony.
Bahamas left Athens with a total of two individual Olympic medals (a gold and a bronze), summing it up to a stark tally of eight with six more from Sydney. The highlight of the Games for the Bahamian athletes came with a prestigious Olympic gold from Tonique Williams-Darling in the women's 400 metres on August 24, 2004. Meanwhile, Ferguson added a bronze to her career hardware in the women's 200 metres by the following day. Being the oldest athlete to reach the final at age 28, she was quoted after the race as saying "I think per capita, the Bahamas already won the Olympics", referring to the 2 medals won for the nation of approximately 325,000 people.
Medalists
Medal Name Sport Event Date Tonique Williams-Darling Athletics Women's 400 m Debbie Ferguson Athletics Women's 200 m
Athletics
Bahamian athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard). Key Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only Q = Qualified for the next round q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target NR = National record N/A = Round not applicable for the event Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round
Men Track & road events AthleteEventHeat QuarterfinalSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankResultRankChris Brown400 m45.091 Qcolspan=2 45.313Did not advanceDominic Demeritte200 m20.621 Q20.616Did not advanceChris BrownAaron CleareDennis Darling*Nathaniel McKinneyAndrae Williams4 × 400 m relay3:01.743 Qcolspan=4 3:01.886 * Competed only in heats
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionOsbourne MoxeyLong jump7.8121Did not advanceLeevan SandsTriple jump16.3527Did not advance
Women Track & road events AthleteEventHeat QuarterfinalSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankResultRankChristine Amertil400 m50.232 Qcolspan=2 50.172 Q50.377Debbie Ferguson100 m11.303 Q11.163 Q11.044 Q11.167200 m22.571 Q22.532 Q22.494 Q22.30Chandra Sturrup100 m11.373 Q11.467Did not advanceTonique Williams-Darling400 m51.201 Qcolspan=2 50.001 Q49.42Shandria BrownTamicka ClarkeDebbie FergusonChandra Sturrup4 × 100 m relay43.022 Qcolspan=4 42.694
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionJackie EdwardsLong jump6.53=14Did not advanceLaverne EveJavelin throw62.116 Q62.776
Swimming
Bahamian swimmers earned qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the A-standard time, and 1 at the B-standard time):
Men AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankJeremy Knowles200 m butterfly1:59.3220Did not advance200 m individual medley2:04.2230Did not advance400 m individual medley4:23.2921colspan=2 Did not advanceNicholas Rees100 m butterfly56.3950Did not advanceChris Vythoulkas100 m backstroke58.3138Did not advance
Women AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankNikia Deveaux50 m freestyle27.3645Did not advance
Tennis
AthleteEventRound of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankMark KnowlesMark MerkleinMen's doublesL 5–7, 4–6Did not advance
See also Bahamas at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Bahamas at the 2003 Pan American Games
References
External links Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad Bahamas Olympic Association