ITwas only a couple of years ago that Bermuda realised that long jumper Tyrone Smith could represent the island in international competition. That was because Smith left Bermuda at an early age to live in the United States and did not return until this year making him somewhat invisible on the local sports scene.

And when Smith, the son of a former United States Marine, did return to Bermuda it was to compete in the national championships.

Bermuda's national track and field coach Gerry Swan told the Mid-Ocean News this week: "Tyrone first represented Bermuda in 2006 after he came to the attention of myself in an article that appeared in the local media. Prior to that newspaper article Smith was a virtual unknown to me, the BTFA and the Bermuda public."

Swan said that following the contacts made and assistance given by himself, Smith ¿ a 2007 graduate of history and political science from the Missouri University of Science and Technology ¿ experienced his first international competition at the 2006 NACAC Under-23 Championships in Santa Domingo.

"On that occasion he earned the bronze medal with a long jump distance of 7.90m (25' 11") and that performance earned listing on the IAAF World List that year. It was an auspicious beginning as it also broke the Bermuda national long jump record of 7.88 metres (25' 10.25") that had been set by Dennis Trott at the 1978 Commonwealth Games." Swan said that following that initial success, Smith, despite a few hiccups, continued overall to show improvement. "He had a less than stellar showing at the 2007 Pan American Games in Brazil with a 14th place finish of 7.32 metres ¿ preceded by a seventh place finish of 7.38 metres at the 2007 NACAC Open Championships in San Salvador, and an 18th place finish from a field of 20 competitors with a distance of 7.38 metres at this year's IAAF World Indoor Championships in Spain during March.

"However during the current outdoor season he has posted a string of performances that brought him within two centimetres of the IAAF standard of 8.05 metres for the Beijing Olympic Games."

Smith recently said: "My immediate goal is to make the (Olympic) finals. And I want to jump 27 feet."In April this year his 7.84 metres jump earned fourth place at the Mt. SAC Relays.

"While his subsequent performance could not be recognised as a new national record because the wind (of 2.9) was above the allowable limit, Smith cleared a distance of 7.95m at the May 2-3 Houston Invitational, a distance he had not previously cleared under any conditions," said Swan adding "in Bermuda, at the BTFA National Championships at the end of June, Smith cleared 7.86 metres. He continued that upward athletic journey at an earlier meet in June, in Greece, when, at the 60th Venizelia Meet, he set a new Bermuda men's long jump record with a leap of 8.03 metres (or 26' 4"). That achievement was significant in that it was the first time a Bermudian had cleared eight metres, or surpassed 26 feet, at the long jump and, that performance has earned posting on the 2008 IAAF World Men Long Jump List."

The IAAF standard for the Beijing Olympic Games is 8.05 metres. For good measure, Smith won the bronze medal at the CAC Senior Championships, held in Cali, Colombia last month, with a leap of 7.80 metres.Swan said that qualifying for the Olympic Games has undergone significant changes.

"Not many years ago, the BOA and every other National Olympic Committee (NOC) world-wide were allowed to have their own local qualifying standards for the Olympic Games. In the case of Bermuda, the standards set by the BOA were in all instances lower than the IAAF standards.

"The IAAF also had standards which were applicable in cases when more than one athlete was to represent the country in the same individual event."

The coach noted that if qualifying practices that were allowed not long ago were in existence today, Smith and fellow long jumper Arantxa King who is also in Beijing, would have surpassed the local standards and been outright qualifiers for this year's Olympic Games.

For the past few Olympic Games, it became no longer acceptable for NOC's to set standards for the Olympics. Therefore, all NOC's would be guided solely by the standards and provisions established by the IAAF, the world governing body of athletics, with regard to entry and participation at the Olympic Games.

"The IAAF has provisions that allow every NGB to have at least one male and one female athlete compete at the Olympic Games. Given the performances of Tyrone Smith and Arantxa King their entry submission by the BTFA was accepted by the IAAF," said Swan.

Smith will take his place on the Beijing stage on the evening of August 16. He will stand with 42 other athletes entered the men's long jump (whose pre-Olympic best performances range from 7.99 metres to 8.73 metres) when they begin their bid for Olympic glory in the qualifying competition at Beijing's Olympic Stadium ¿ the Bird's Nest as it is now known.At least 12 athletes will advance to the final that will be contested two days later on August 18.

Joining Smith at the Bird's nest will be Arantxa King. Swan said: "She has just completed a very successful freshman year, with good academic and athletic results, at Stanford University. She is still at 18 years old a junior athlete."

Noting that King is tall close to six feet and projects a respectful, quiet demeanor, Swan said: "In the competition arena the demeanor changes. Arantxa is very serious about the business of athletic competition ¿ she wants to perform well and she expects to perform well. She trains diligently to position herself to try to perform well for Bermuda and takes what she considers a 'disappointing performance' quite hard. Mediocrity is not acceptable."

King won the gold medal in the long jump at the 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships, in Morocco, to become the World Youth Champion.

Her medal winning jump of 6.39 metres also set a new national junior women's Record. That same year, at age16, she won the gold medal at the Pan American Junior Championships in Canada and preceded that accomplishment with a gold medal performance at the CARIFTA Games in Tobago.

In 2006 she was one of two teenage athletes (La Troya Darrell was the other) who qualified for and represented Bermuda at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.

"While the Commonwealth Games offered one of those 'disappointing' outcomes to Arantxa during which she had to be consoled, one of the impressive aspects was the fact that those two junior athletes ¿ Arantxa and La Troya ¿ were not in awe of, or overwhelmed by, the stadium crowd of 80,000 people," said said Swan.

Last year King claimed the bronze medal at the Pan American Junior Championships (in Brazil) with a measurement of 6.10 metres, and at the Pan American Games, fully a senior international competition that followed, she was a finalist and earned a very respectable eighth place with her season best performance of 6.18 metres.

"This year, despite a knee problem, Arantxa has registered performances that have been consistently better than previous years. As a freshman student at Stanford University, she was impressive as she recorded long jumps of 6.36m (at the UW Invitational); 6.37m (at the Tyson Invitational) and placed third at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Indoor Conference Championships with a third place, new personal best distance of 6.42 metres. That mark also surpassed the conference record of 6.41 metres. It was Arantxa's 6.36 metres jump that first earned mention on the IAAF 2008 World Indoor Women Long Jump List," said Swan.

King's 6.42 metres jump also enhanced her position on the IAAF World Indoor List and, in essence, is a new Bermuda junior women's long jump record. At last month's IAAF World Junior Championships, in Poland, King needed only one jump of 6.28 metres to surpass the automatic qualifying standard (of 6.25 metres) for the final. In the final, held the next day, she placed fifth with a distance of 6.31 metres. The gold, silver and bronze medals were won with respective distances of 6.61m, 6.46m and 6.41m.

Swan said: "There were two significant points that gave indication that a much longer jump is not far away. Her first jump during that competition, although a fractional foul, covered a huge distance. Her fourth round jump of 6.31 metres did not have the benefit of the take-off board as her take-off occurred from behind the board which is 20 centimetres wide," said Swan.

"Arantxa is excited to be in Beijing. She has seen several very elite athletes up close such as Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and had pictures taken of her with Lindsay Davenport and Raphael Nadal. However, she is well grounded and her focus is intact," added coach Swan.

The qualification competition for the women's long jump will begin at 9:40 a.m. on August 19 and the final will be held during the evening session of August 22.

"Arantxa is looking to crown her season at the Olympics with a performance that will eclipse the personal best mark she set earlier this year. She will have the company of 44 athletes, whose best pre-Olympic performance marks range from 5.96 metres to 7.14 metres, to push her toward that goal," added Swan.

Of the Village Swan said: "The Olympic Games Village is quite large and the dining facility provides a variety of good food ¿ and an athlete can easily eat himself out of a good performance if he is careless! Transportation and training facilities are excellent. There are two principal facilities from which athletes and coaches can choose to train and Arantxa and Tyrone have trained at both facilities.

"The facility immediately next to the athletics competition stadium which will be the official warm-up facility for the athletics competition is no more than a ten minute bus drive from the Village while the Chao Yang Sports Center, the venue used to host the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships, is a 25 minute journey from the Village.