Swimmer Bradley Ally will launch Barbados’ medal campaign at the London 2012 Olympic Games today when he competes in the Men’s 400 metre Individual Medley.
Barbados begins Olympic campaign today in the pool
7/28/2012
By Alan Harris
LONDON – By the time you read this, Olympic swimmer Bradley Ally will already know if he has progressed to the final of the Men’s 400 metre Individual Medley, one of the first medals on offer here in the British capital.
The 25 year-old Barbadian was in the pool this morning at 10 a.m. – 5 a.m. for the Eastern Caribbean – in Lane 5 of Heat 2 of the preliminaries.
After forgoing last night’s Opening Ceremony in an effort to save energy, Ally entered the heat with the second fastest qualifying time of 4:24.06, less than a second behind Iceland’s 18 year-old boy wonder Anton Sveinn McKee at 4:23.64.
If successful in the preliminaries, Ally will again be action tonight at 7:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. in the Eastern Caribbean – in the final. The top eight swimmers of the heats progress straight to the final.
The race for gold is expected to be dominated by the United Sates with fourteen-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps, the current world record holder, and reigning world champion Ryan Lochte dominating the international headlines.
Ally, who will also compete in the men’s 200 Individual Medley on Wednesday, is also entered in tomorrow’s 100 metre backstroke. He will compete in Heat 1 at 11:03 a.m. local time – 6:03 a.m. in the Eastern Caribbean – in Lane 4. He enters the three-man heat with the fastest time of 55.88 seconds.
If successful in the prelims, Ally will advance to the semi-finals at 8:25 p.m. local time – 3:25 p.m. in the Eastern Caribbean. The final is scheduled for Monday.
The men’s 100 metre backstroke is thought by many to be an open race with an outright winner proving difficult to chose.
Judoka Kyle Maxwell will be up next for Barbados in the Men’s 73kg division on Monday. He will be up against Japan’s Riki Nakaya in the first round at London’s ExCel Centre.
