Guyana's Commonwealth Games 400-metre gold medalist and Athens 2004 qualifier, Aliann Pompey, says she is faster than she has ever been and ready to run.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport, Pompey, who clocked 51.34 seconds in winning the gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, said she made the qualifying time for this year's Olympics at a Grand Prix meet in Poland last year so she automatically made the standard for the event in Athens. She added this took a lot of stress off her mind.
"Instead of thinking about qualifying (for the Olympics), I can work on progressively getting faster. My desired end result would be to peak in Athens."
Pompey said so far, she is really excited with the progress of her training. "I'm doing more speed work, but not neglecting my strong points (strength and endurance) and I was hoping to have four meets under my belt at this point."
She did say she missed out on an opportunity for a great start to the outdoor season by not being able to compete in her first international event this year in Martinique.
"My original plan was to run a 600m at a local meet, a 200m in Maryland, USA, a 400m in Martinique (my first international competition), and another 200m this weekend. Unfortunately, I was unable to make the meet in Martinique. I needed a visa to travel because I have a Guyanese passport. It's difficult and time-consuming to get visas for all the places I'd like to compete. Even though I put in the application as soon as I got the letter of invitation and all necessary paperwork, the visa wasn't issued until a few hours after I was scheduled to leave," Pompey lamented. Her personal trainer said she clocked 1.29.08 seconds (1:29.08) in the 600M at the Iona Invitational local meet and 24.14 seconds for the 200-metres at the meet in Maryland, USA.
According to Pompey, she was forced to sacrifice one practice session so that she could have gone to the consulate on time and wait to check the status of her Martinique visa application
"...Adding insult to injury, the results of the meet in Martinique were 52.59 seconds for first place, 52.85 seconds for the second place finisher and 55.01 seconds for third place.
"That same weekend, I tried to get on a relay for Penn Relays, but at that point it was too late. All the teams were set and decided. Instead I did some time trials in practice. I am still scheduled to race a 200m this weekend (today). It will be at the Princeton Invitational."
Pompey said her coach is very confident in the work-outs she has been able to do and he feels that it should not be a problem for her to run a personal best time quite early in the season, granted that she is given the opportunity.
Pompey said she is scheduled to compete in two major meets in Brazil on May 16 and 24.
"Getting back into my racing rhythm on an international level is what I need. That's why my coach feels Martinique was invaluable. At the moment, we're going through some specialised work-outs that focus on my speed, and speed maintenance."
With regard to word from Guyana on her participation for Athens 2004, Pompey said "I've been in touch with the Chef-de- Mission for the Athens Games, Garfield Wiltshire. I've been keeping him updated as to what's going on and he's been informing me about the plans and the various steps to be taken to get there. The lines of communication between myself and Mr. Wiltshire are open, so things are very smooth at the moment."