THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996 TAG: 9608040326
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: 36 lines
On a special Saturday night, Norfolk State's fabled green and gold colors turned solid silver.
A half-hour before the Spartans' Tim Montgomery won a silver medal as a member of the U.S. men's 4x100 relay team, Chandra Sturrup claimed her own silver medal for helping the Bahamas finish second in the women's 4x100 relay.
``I'm going to showcase it. It's going up on my wall,'' Sturrup said after she ran the second leg for a squad that was runner-up to the U.S. team headed by Gail Devers and Gwen Torrence.
Torrence anchored the U.S. to a winning time of 41.95. The Bahamians clocked a 42.14, a national record for that island team.
The evening capped a busy week for Sturrup, who graduated from Norfolk State last spring. In her first Olympics, Sturrup, who plans to return to Chesapeake after a few weeks of running in Europe, finished fourth in the 100 meters last Saturday. Thursday, she placed sixth in the 200 meters.
Sturrup said she believed the Bahamas could win the relay. And though she ran the fastest split of the four runners, 10.02, Sturrup said her less-than-perfect handoff to third leg Sevatheda Fynes might have cost them.
``We had a little technical error in the exchange,'' said Sturrup, who said the runners had practiced as a unit only Friday night and Saturday morning. ``I guess I was kind of scared because (Fynes) gets out real good. I figured if she got out I may not be able to catch her, so I told her to hold up during the race. She slowed down a little and I gave her the baton.''
Still, that was a wide smile on Sturrup's face as she and her teammates took a victory lap carrying the flag of her country. It was still there when she walked out to receive her medal for being second-best in the world.
KEYWORDS: OLYMPIC GAMES 1996 ATLANTA by CNB