Atkinson fourth in 200m breaststroke
Alia Atkinson ended fourth in the women’s 200m breaststroke final Thursday night, completing her 16th Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico with one silver, two fourth, and one seventh-place finish at the Scoatiabank Aquatics Center.
During her four days of competition, the 22-year-old Atkinson, a two-time Olympian, re-established her national senior records in 100m butterfly (1:01.17), 100m breaststroke (1:09.11) and the 200m individual medley (2:14.75).
A speedy swimmer, Atkinson has not paced herself well in the four-lap and eight-lap events, often going out too fast and fading in the end.
Her performance in Guadalajara, however, betters the one seventh and two eight-place finishes she recorded at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
She failed to reach the final of the 50m freestyle and 100m breaststroke at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and also fell short in the 200m breaststroke at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
In a recent interview Atkinson said that lack of funding had stymied her progress in the waters, preventing her from not only competing enough and but also not eating with the proper nutrients.
“I will have to work,” stressed Atkinson, who has a degree in psychology from Texas A&M University.
At press time, Jamaica’s women’s basketball team, drawn in Group B, was to play Colombia at 5:30 pm at the CODE Sports Complex. Group B also includes Brazil and Canada.
Group A consists of Argentina, United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico where the top two in each group will advance to the semi-finals on October 24.
Meanwhile, middleweight (75kg) boxer Reece Shagourie has gotten a bye to the quarter-final. He will not compete until tomorrow at 7:00 pm at the Expo Guadalajara Arena.
Ronald Holmes took the silver medal for Jamaica in the 81kg (light heavyweight) division at the 1963 Pan American Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Cruiserweight (91kg) boxers Alex Stewart and Kerron Reid won bronze medals for Jamaica at the 1983 and 1999 Games in Caracas, Venezuela and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, respectively.
Marloe Rodman will compete in the men’s individual road race this afternoon at the PanAm Cycling Velodrome.
Rodman will try to follow in the tracks of David Weller, who won two silver and a bronze in track time trials in 1975, 1979 and 1983, respectively.
