Mario Burke heading to the Olympics

A dream come true.

That is how Barbados sprinter Mario Burke has summed up being named to the Barbados Olympic team for Tokyo 2020.

Burke, who has been running since Primary School, is the first person since Obadele Thompson to run under 10 seconds  in the 100m and said he was very excited to be set to make his debut at the Olympics.

He has competed at Carifta, World Junior and other major meets, but now he is set to be at the pinnacle event of sports, the Olympics.

With a track meet slated for this weekend as he moves into his final preparations for the biggest stage of his career, Burke said that he “can’t believe it is finally happening. All my life from the time I started track and field I always wanted to be an Olympian.”

He has his sights set on more than just being a number.

“I don’t just want to go there and take part, I want to go there and compete to the best of my ability and compete against the best in the world and shake stuff up.”

As such he has a target he wants to meet.

The primary target is to make the finals, “then I will set myself up to getting a medal from there”.

He has been entered for the 100m and 200m though he did not com-pete in the 200m at Nationals.

“I qualified in the 200m before so that is why I was announced to be in the 200m, but I have to talk to my coach and the AAB and see what is going to happen in that. But the primary goal is to focus on the 100m and see how it goes in Tokyo.

It has not been an easy road for the former Harrison College and University of Houston athlete, who said he had a few issues at the start of the season which he has been working through.

“The form is getting better and I am almost fully healthy and ready to go. I have a month to prepare for the games and get myself back and get a few competitions in and get ready for the games.

He admitted that the Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for him “but I try not to make excuses”.

Instead he prefers to make the most of the opportunities that he gets and is looking forward to the opportunity to be an Olympian.

“Covid is not going to stop me. I am going to go out there and be the best me that I can be.”

“I’m a competitive person so competing against the best in the world is going to get me ready and I am looking forward to the challenge and I believe personally that I can beat those guys and I am ready to go and do it.”

Burke is slated to compete in Atlanta on Friday and then again in Los Angeles the week after that “I want to get some competitive juices flowing cause this year I didn’t get to compete as much as I wanted to so I want to get myself in as much race fitness as I possibly can,” he said.

Burke is now a full time professional athlete and the transition from University has presented some challenges as the Collegiate system always had a set foundation, which is not the case for him now.

But he says he has a good team around him – both in Barbados and in the USA where he is based.

He was congratulated by Carl Lewis, his former coach at Houston and now he is ready for the big stage in Tokyo later this month.