LONDON â Aliann Pompey's semifinal in the Olympic 400 meters didn't go as planned. There's nothing she can do about it. It was her final Olympic race.
Pompey, a Cohoes High grad and four-time Olympian for Guyana, finished in last place in her 400 heat Saturday night at Olympic Stadium. She ran a 52.58, slower than her first-round time Friday (52.10) and well back of her personal best from three years ago (50.71). It would have taken a sub-51 to make it to Sunday's final.
At 34, Pompey doesn't have that speed anymore. It was apparent as she was passed by the only runner to her inside after 100 meters. Pompey said she went out too slow. The last 40 seconds of her Olympic career were spent trying in vain to reel in anybody from the entire field in front of her.
"The thing about running the 400, there's so much to focus on," Pompey said. "There's so much pain to focus on. ... It's not really a hopeless feeling, actually, until it's over and you realize you could have done a few things differently."
Pompey is one of the most accomplished athletes in her country's thin sports history. Guyana owns one Olympic medal â a boxing bronze in 1980. Pompey, twice the South American nation's opening ceremony flag bearer, achieved one of its greatest feats by winning the 2002 Commonwealth Games 400.
Her family moved from Guyana to Cohoes when Pompey, the oldest of eight children, was 14 years old. She went on to win a state title and NCAA indoor title in the 400, paving the way for four Olympic appearances. She peaked in 2008, finishing 11th in Beijing.
"Maybe now I'll live vicariously through someone else and coach," Pompey said. "You know, my coach (former Irish national team sprinter Joe Ryan) did it to me. Maybe I'll just keep that cycle going. But there is a lot that I want to do for athletics, particularly track and field in Guyana."
Pompey now lives in New York City and works as the director of the Armory College Prep program, guiding young athletes. She'd like to give back to Guyana, too, perhaps starting a track and field camp. The nation does not have a synthetic, all-weather track, she said, just grass fields to train on.
"For a long time, I was a professional athlete and that's all I was doing," Pompey said. "When you add up the hours between training and recovering and doing something else later that involves track and field, it's a good eight hours of your day almost every day of the week. So now I'm going to live life where that's not part of my schedule. I'm just not sure how I'm going to do that."
Nick Zaccardi is a freelance writer.
http://www.timesunion.com/spor...c-career-3763009.php
Pompey, a Cohoes High grad and four-time Olympian for Guyana, finished in last place in her 400 heat Saturday night at Olympic Stadium. She ran a 52.58, slower than her first-round time Friday (52.10) and well back of her personal best from three years ago (50.71). It would have taken a sub-51 to make it to Sunday's final.
At 34, Pompey doesn't have that speed anymore. It was apparent as she was passed by the only runner to her inside after 100 meters. Pompey said she went out too slow. The last 40 seconds of her Olympic career were spent trying in vain to reel in anybody from the entire field in front of her.
"The thing about running the 400, there's so much to focus on," Pompey said. "There's so much pain to focus on. ... It's not really a hopeless feeling, actually, until it's over and you realize you could have done a few things differently."
Pompey is one of the most accomplished athletes in her country's thin sports history. Guyana owns one Olympic medal â a boxing bronze in 1980. Pompey, twice the South American nation's opening ceremony flag bearer, achieved one of its greatest feats by winning the 2002 Commonwealth Games 400.
Her family moved from Guyana to Cohoes when Pompey, the oldest of eight children, was 14 years old. She went on to win a state title and NCAA indoor title in the 400, paving the way for four Olympic appearances. She peaked in 2008, finishing 11th in Beijing.
"Maybe now I'll live vicariously through someone else and coach," Pompey said. "You know, my coach (former Irish national team sprinter Joe Ryan) did it to me. Maybe I'll just keep that cycle going. But there is a lot that I want to do for athletics, particularly track and field in Guyana."
Pompey now lives in New York City and works as the director of the Armory College Prep program, guiding young athletes. She'd like to give back to Guyana, too, perhaps starting a track and field camp. The nation does not have a synthetic, all-weather track, she said, just grass fields to train on.
"For a long time, I was a professional athlete and that's all I was doing," Pompey said. "When you add up the hours between training and recovering and doing something else later that involves track and field, it's a good eight hours of your day almost every day of the week. So now I'm going to live life where that's not part of my schedule. I'm just not sure how I'm going to do that."
Nick Zaccardi is a freelance writer.
http://www.timesunion.com/spor...c-career-3763009.php
