Team T&T

Kelly-Ann Baptiste will be one of the more experienced Trinidad and Tobago athletes at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil, from August 5 to 21. The 2016 Olympics will be the third time Baptiste will represent TT at the Games, after competing at the 2008 Beijing Games and at the 2012 London edition

Baptiste, 29, will compete in the women’s 100-metre and women’s 4x100m relay events in Rio. Baptiste anticipates a strong showing by the women’s 4x100m team, which also comprises Michelle-Lee Ahye, Semoy Hackett, Reyare Thomas, Khalifa St Fort and Kai Selvon.

The national women’s 4x100m relay team of Baptiste, Michelle- Lee Ahye, Semoy Hackett and Reyare Thomas created history with a bronze medal at the World Championships in Beijing last year in a national record time of 42.03 seconds. It was this country’s first relay medal in the women’s 4x100m event at the World Championships.

Baptiste says the women’s relay team has an excellent chance to earn this country’s first ever women’s 4x100m relay Olympic medal.

She said, “our chances are great.

Building up on what we did last year I think all the girls are excited to be there and have the opportunity to bring back our country’s first Olympic medal in 4x100 for women.

I think that for me is one of my biggest motivations knowing that we have a chance to make history.” In 2003, Baptiste was the first national women’s sprinter to win a medal at an international track meet when she ran 11.58 seconds to snatch bronze in the 100m at the third IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada.

One of her career highlights came in 2011 at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Baptiste dipped under 11 seconds stopping the clock in 10.98 which earned her a bronze medal.

Finishing ahead of Baptiste was American Carmelita Jeter in 10.90, while Jamaican Veronica Campbell- Brown claimed silver in 10.97.

At the 2012 Olympics, Baptiste competed in the 100m final finishing sixth in 10.94. A failed baton exchange in the women’s 4x100m cost the team a chance of a medal where they reached the final but did not finish.