|
 Aleen
Bailey is not the oldest athlete on the team by a long stretch. However,
her leadership qualities coupled with the tremendous confidence that she
exudes elevate her to that position. Aleen could have picked up this
positive attitude representing high school track and field powerhouse
Vere Technical at Boys and Girls Champs, where she went almost unbeaten
for four years.
She was a Carifta
Games Gold Medallist from 1997 to
1999 and the National 100 and 200 metres Champion in 2001. She also
participated with success at the Penn Relays, the World Championships,
the Commonwealth
Games and the
University of South
Carolina.
Although she was
doing well from at early as 14 years old, the St Mary native really got
serious about athletics as a career at 17. "I started to look at other
people who made it and decided to do it too."
"I saw Merlene Ottey
on TV. I saw all the things she did and all the things she got and I
wanted to be like her," Aleen said.
"It was amazing,"
she says of
Jamaica’s victory in the sprint relay at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
"It didn't feel real. The team went out there and prayed.
The only team that
was really in my mind was
Russia. You can lose a race because of bad
baton passes. Russia had perfect baton passes. But we were determined.
Then Merlene Ottey came by.
Merlene made it easy
for us to go out there. She encouraged us. Her being there was amazing.
She is an amazing person once you get to know her. All of us on the 4 x
1 team idolise her."
She will
return to the
University of South Carolina to finish her degree in Sociology soon.
"I'm interested in social work," she says. "There are a lot of young
females whose fathers have disappeared. Some have children without
fathers. I want to start a programme to help them get their lives back
on track. That's where my sociology degree comes in."
She plans to return
to Jamaica to settle down. No place like home," she
says. "But I would like to see Jamaica
return to the days when
people really cared about their neighbours. I remember
people being more helpful to each other when I was
growing up. People shared. Nobody went
hungry if they didn't
have anything."
|
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: |
2004
Olympics 4x100m Gold (result) |
|
|
|
|
Aleen
finished a creditable fifth place in the final of the 100 metres and
also finished fourth in the 200m final. Undoubtedly, though, her
highlight of the Games came when she teamed up with Tayna Lawrence,
Sherone Simpson and Veronica Campbell to win Gold in the 4x100m.
Womens 4x100m. Relay Final. Olympic Games 2004
1.
Jamaica (Tayna
Lawrence, Sherone Simpson, Aleen Bailey, Veronica Campbell)
41.73
2. Russia (Olga Fyodorova, Yuliya Tabakova, Irina Khabarova, Larisa
Kruglova) 42.27
3. France (Veronique Mang, Muriel Hurtis, Sylviane Felix, Christine
Arron) 42.54
|
|
|
|
Womens 100m.
Final. Olympic Games 2004
|
|
|
1. Yuliya
Nesterenko |
|
BLR |
|
10.93
|
|
2. Lauryn
Williams |
|
USA |
|
10.96
|
|
3. Veronica
Campbell |
|
JAM |
|
10.97
|
|
4. Ivet Lalova
|
|
BGR |
|
11.00
|
|
5. Aleen Bailey
|
|
JAM |
|
11.05
|
|
6. Sherone
Simpson |
|
JAM |
|
11.07
|
|
7. Debbie
Ferguson |
|
BAH |
|
11.16
|
|
8. LaTasha
Colander |
|
USA |
|
11.18
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Womens 200m.
Final. Olympic Games 2004
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Veronica
Campbell |
|
JAM |
|
22.05
|
|
2. Allyson Felix
|
|
USA |
|
22.18
|
|
3. Debbie
Ferguson |
|
BAH |
|
22.30
|
|
4. Aleen Bailey
|
|
JAM |
|
22.42
|
|
5. Ivet Lalova
|
|
BGR |
|
22.57
|
|
6. Kim Gevaert
|
|
BEL |
|
22.84
|
|
7. Muna Lee
|
|
USA |
|
22.87
|
|
7. Abiodun
Oyepitan |
|
GBR |
|
22.87
|
|
|
