Looking Back: Bermuda’s Olympic Relay Team

As Bermudians watched and celebrated the Jamaican team winning the 4x100m relay this evening [Aug 11] in a world record time of 36.84, we look back at when Bermuda made an Olympic appearance in the 4×100 relay.

In the 1976 Montréal Olympic Games Bermuda’s team of Mike Sharpe, Dennis Trott, Calvin Dill and Gregory Simons placed 9th in the 4×100.

In the first heat they finished in 39.90 which saw them qualify for the semi-finals with a time of 39.90. In the semi-finals they clocked a time of 39.78 and finished 9th, just missing out on the finals as only the top 8 go through.

1976 Olympic 4x100m relay final:

In the semi-finals the Bermuda team finished 0.32 seconds behind the 8th place finisher Canada, which was good enough to seal a 9th place finish defeating West Germany, Trinidad and Tobago, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Bahamas, Thailand, Spain, Kuwait, Barbados, Antigua and Saudi Arabia.

The USA won the 4×100 gold medal in a time of 38.33, East Germany took silver in 38.66, and the Soviet Union claimed the bronze medal in a time of 38.78.

1976 was of course Bermuda’s most successful Olympic appearance, with Clarence Hill winning the island’s only Olympic medal in history, claiming bronze in the boxing. In total the island sent 16 athletes to the 1976 Games, with 15 male athletes and Debbie Jones Hunter as the lone female.

1976 was also the same year that saw Bermuda sprinters excel at the Carifta Games; Debbie Jones Hunter swept the 100m, 200m and 400m women’s gold medals, Michael Swan won the men’s 400m gold medal, Gina Smith won the women’s 400m gold medal, the 4×100 men’s relay team won the gold medal, the 4×400 men’s relay team took home silver and Gregory Simons won the bronze in the men’s 100m and 200m.

#BermudaHistory #BermudaTrackAndField #Olympics

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