Another Grenadian athlete makes Olympic team

Neisha Bernard-Smith

NASHVILLE, TN June 3, 2012 - Neisha Bernard-Smith attained a B Standard Qualifying time in the Women’s 800 metre for the London Olympic Games, starting next month.

Bernard-Smith won the Women’s 800m Invitational at the Music City Distance Carnival hosted at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN on Saturday. Her time of 2:01.21 is a season best and Meet Record (2:01.81) and also better than the Olympic B Standard of 2:01.30.

Last month she ran 2:01.91 at a meet in Los Angeles. However, her personal best is 1:59.60 which she ran in Kingston, Jamaica on May 1, 2010.

The other Olympic-bound athletes so far are Kirani James, Rondell Bartholomew and Kanika Beckles (400m); Joel Redhead (200m); Kurt Felix (Decathlon); and Andrea St Bernard (Taekwondo).

The Distance Carnival is perennially one of the strongest gatherings of middle-distance and long-distance runners in the United States.

The event draws athletes from all over North America and routinely attracts U.S-based National record holders and Olympians from other countries.

The 2012 meet saw runners travel from 24 different U.S states and two Canadian provinces, and also a total of 15 different nations represented with many runners looking to stamp their tickets to the London Olympics later this summer.
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