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Looking for consistency
Debbie Ferguson won a silver medal at the 1996 Olympics as part of the Bahamas' 400-meter relay team. She enjoyed a record-setting collegiate career at the University of Georgia where she was a 19-time All-American and a four-time NCAA champion and broke Gwen Torrence's school records in the 100 and 200 meters. Debbie is now training for Sydney, where she plans to compete in the 400 relay, 100 and 200 meters. Check out her diary every two weeks on CNNSI.com.
Saint-Denis, France
Well, I am at the midway point of my European tour. My next meet is Friday, and I arrived in Saint-Denis earlier today after about an hour train ride from Lille, France.
Traveling by train is not bad, but you have to handle your own luggage, which is a little tough when you're carrying a month's supply.
I have one bag with all my track clothes, shoes and equipment, and a medium-sized pulley bag with more clothes, cosmetics and vitamins. I keep one bag with me at all times that contains my spikes and competition gear, so if anything happens at least I'll have those. Then I've got my purse and another bag with the trophies I've collected since I've been here. It was a pain, and I had to get some help from some other people. I was hungry when I got here, so I got a little lunch and saw some athletes whom I hadn't seen in a while. It was good to see them again and catch up. I went for a walk to see what was around us at the hotel, then I went for a jog and took a quick nap. After getting up, I got some dinner and then tried to ice my legs because I'm a little bit fatigued. I'm getting ready to turn in for the night, and tomorrow it's back to the track.
While I'm focusing on my meets, I'm also trying to take advantage of traveling. Away from the track, I've been sightseeing and looking around all the different places I've been. Through track, I've made friends all over the world and it's great to see them again and meet new people.
I try to learn a little bit about everybody's culture in the different places I go, and in the process I try to exchange and share some of mine. That has been great. While the competitions are exciting, nothing can beat the human experiences that you share away from athletics. It's nice not to think about track everyday, but to meet people at receptions or be invited to people's houses -- that's a fun part of everything, too.
So far, I've run in four meets -- one in Milan, Italy, two in Greece and one in Lille, France. All together, I've run four 200s already and won all four. I ran the 100 once and ran an 11.16, which for a start is OK.
My 200 time is not good, but not bad considering that it's still early. I ran a 22.63 in Italy and Inger Miller, who was the world champion in Seville last year, ran a 22.68.
In general, everybody seems pretty serious. What is on everybody's mind is Sydney 2000. I'm seeing a lot of people who didn't run last year who are out this year. Everybody wants that medal, and everybody is serious in the competitions. But if you focus on the other athletes, you'll be intimidated. As I've told you before, I've had my days of being intimidated but not anymore.
So far, running the 200 has been better for me. I've competed with most of the people who have won and competed in the '97 or '98 World Championships. From now on though, I'm just going to be running 100s, which will be a challenge because the 200 is my best event.
My next meet is stacked in the 100. There are three others from the Bahamas running -- Eldece Clark-Lewis, Sazatheda Fynes and Chandra Sturrup. We all ran on a relay together at the 1996 Games, so we're calling this next meet a mini Bahamas trials.
Also competing will be Chryste Gaines of the U.S.; the French queen Christine Arron; my roommate, Susanthika Jayasiaghe, who was second in the 200 at the 1997 World Championships, and last, but not least, the one who almost beat THE Marion Jones in at the 1997 Worlds, Zhanna Pintusevich-Block.
So, as you can see, the meet is stacked. It's big. This is a Golden League meet, which is like a mini Olympic trials. From here, I got to Athens, Greece, then I go to Rome, Italy, and from Rome I go to Losone, Switzerland, then I come back to the United States. I'll train in the United States from July 6 until I leave for the Bahamas trials on July 19.
From now until then I'm mainly trying to focus on running consistently. I want to run 11.0s or 11.1s in the 100, and I think if I can do that until the Olympics, I will be able to dip under 11-flat. I have big goals for myself. If I can run a 10.9 or 10.8 that would be great and give me some confidence headed into the Bahamas trials. But mostly, I'm just looking for consistency.
I'm looking forward to running fast. I really want to do well and take it from there. Everything I'm doing now is in preparation for the trials in the Bahamas.
I want to thank everyone for writing and for all the questions you've sent in. I want to answer them, but it's really hard to do so from here. So if you will continue to be patient and give me some more time, I will respond to them when I get back to the U.S. I will have more time then to answer your questions and maybe even chat with you.
Until then...
--Debbie
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