The Guyanese middle- distance star turned in another of her trademark gutsy performances to score her country’s first track medal at these Games since 1975 - before she was even born. Following on her semi-final third place finish the night before, Burnett delivered on her potential, but finished half a second short of the top two medals.

Contesting the Women’s 800m on the second night of track and field competition at the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Stadium, “she came from almost second to last to get the bronze in 2 mins, 03.58s and that’s a morale booster for the others to follow,” said acting Chef-de-mission and substantive boxing manager Terrence Poole.

Poole who is substituting as leader of the Guyanese contingent in the absence of original designee Charles Corbin, told this newspaper by telephone that the petite athlete “showed a lot of guts to come back so good after her momentum was disturbed.”

In a driving finish, she placed behind defending champion Letitia Vriesde of Suriname (2:02.92) and 2003 Cuban national middle-distance champion Adriana Munoz (2:02.96).

The Guyanese swooshed past the challenges of Brazilian champion Christiane Ritz; Cuba’s 2-time CAC Games champion Yanelis Lara; Luciana Mendes of Brazil; Barbados’ champion Sheena Gooding and U.S. Olympian and NCAA record-holder Hazel Clark.

The diminutive athlete was involved in a jolting mid-race pushing and shoving mix-up with two other runners when she attempted to prevent herself from being ‘boxed-in’ in the inner lane. She escaped by first running off the track then onto the outer lanes several inches from the other competitors. Burnett said she experienced a similar situation in her semi-final, and lost valuable time and rhythm. She confessed that “it was another of those bad experiences that plague me, probably because of my height disadvantage, but I am learning...and if I race them again today, today I am confident I can take the gold.” She noted that she would have been “tactically, better prepared” had her coach whom she tried to get accredited through the Guyana officials, been there.

Burnett said, “I knew I could have done better, had it not been for the mishap, since I was prepared to ‘war’ with all and sundry ‘cause my coached prepared me well for this Games, and I have run as fast as if not faster than everyone else this season.”

Apart from that she said she had to make up for the unfortunate experience of her Louisiana State University (LSU) colleague Neisha Bernard-Thomas who missed the finals by 4/100ths of a second, after she too was shoved in her semis. Bernard-Thomas had won the 800m gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean championships at home in Grenada, exactly a month before.

While dedicating her medal to “all Guyana”, she singled out her special regard for the local Police Force, Sports Minister Gail Teixeira and her coach Mark Elliott in Louisiana.

In tones of controlled elation, Elliott said, “Marian has given me proud moments, yet again.” He noted that when he spoke to Burnett by telephone, “she was her usual self ... not satisfied with anything but the utmost, the gold ... but I told her though we both know she could have done better, that little glory counts at this time.” Elliott who coached Burnett at the top U.S. women’s track and field college, to being one of the best half-milers in the U.S., contended that “she can and will do so much better in the future ... only a handful are currently better than she in this hemisphere, and her nation needs to support her and what she does as an outstanding sporting ambassador.”

And, Manager for the track team, Neville Denny indicated that the disciplined manner in which his charges have been attending to their duties in Santo Domingo “has paid off.” Denny said Burnett could have done better were it not for the jostling problem, and felt that “she continues to show that she has a lot of heart.”

Not only on the track was Burnett involved in bitter-sweet occurrences. The forthright and bold athlete stood by her insistence that the medal ceremony for her event be withheld until a Guyana flag is available. Earlier, Burnett observed that the ‘Golden Arrowhead’ was missing from the presentation area, and demanded that the officials have one present for her auspicious moment. After almost two hours, a Guyana flag which stood on the Games’ Flag of Nations ramp was released and used for the medal ceremony.

Reflecting on the ‘oversight’ being another of the organisational whammies at the Games, the young police officer said, “I refused to stand there and let my national pride be short changed,” adding that her Surinamese and Cuban counterparts also agreed with her. “I am a military personnel, and the first Guyanese to compete here, so these little slips had to righted,” Burnett said in ordering tones.

Poole said he had the honour of raising the Guyana flag at the 1991 Games in Cuba, and this time around “myself and everyone else, we were very proud ... and the Guyanese support we are getting here had a proud moment too ... we are looking forward to Marian’s ‘first-up’ glory bringing us more. At the time this newspaper contacted the Guyanese team, 2003 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Aliann Pompey had gone off to rest, though initially she was available.

Pompey contested the heats of the Women’s 400m the previous night, and advanced to the Finals billed for last night. Both Denny and Burnett confidently stated that “Aliann is ready ... ready to go to the finals, she is more motivated, now.”

Other team members are scheduled to go into action later. Boxer Rayon O’Neil will fight in the 75kg category and should have an elimination contest either tonight or tomorrow, and he is banking on being successful to go through to the quarterfinals next week. Swimmer Onan Thom is schedule to enter the pool on Monday after his expected arrival yesterday, while weightlifters Shondell King (Women’s 69kg) and William Langford (Men’s 77kg) begin their quest for medals next Thursday.