BARCELONA -- Bermuda has been good for one special performance at every Olympic Games in recent memory.

Clarence Hill won a boxing bronze medal in Montreal in 1976. After the 1980 boycott, Tornado class sailors Alan Burland and Chris Nash were fifth in Los Angeles in 1984, high jumper Clarance (Nicky) Saunders was fifth in Seoul in 1988 and this time the mantle was turned over to Brian Wellman, who was fifth in the triple jump final on Monday night.

Who will it be in Atlanta in 1986? Of this present crop Wellman, who is 24 now, looks the most likely to be in contention again. But that is not to say the others will not appear on the scene to make Bermuda proud.

For winning Olympic medals is not the measure of our success. In our case, the over-used phrase "Be the best that you can be'' fits perfectly.

The past week-and-a-half has been littered with personal bests by swimmers, Wellman and dressage equestrienne Suzanne Dunkley. Wellman merely produced the icing to a tasty cake.

His event was easily the most exciting of Monday's track programme and the crowd in excess of 57,000 showed their appreciation.

And the only cheers louder than for Wellman were when gold medallist Mike Conley, Wellman's assistant coach in college, broke the Olympic record with his second jump and then obliterated that mark on his final jump. A world record was denied him by a fraction on the wind gauge.

Other than that Wellman had the crowd in his hands. It was only unfortunate that he could not make any of his last three jumps count. The fifth one in particular was long enough to win a medal, but he went narrowly past the take-off board.

So he was fifth....fifth in the greatest athletics showpiece on earth. This is something not to be taken for granted Bermuda. That was a heck of an achievement by an athlete whose best days are still ahead of him.

Troy Douglas gave it his all in the 400 metres and his just reward was a place in the semifinal.

There is every indication that he will indeed run faster this year and lower his national record, which stands at 45.54 seconds. But in 1996, Douglas will be 33, older than any other 400 metres runner at these present Games.

Saunders' future is very much up in the air. He faces surgery on both knees and is lacking confidence again. And like Douglas, he too will be 33 when the Atlanta Games roll around.

He stands a far less chance of being competitive at that time. Add to that the facts that he plans to marry Sophia Cannonier next May and is eyeing a political career and Saunders will not be in a position to live the jet-set life of a world-class athlete.

Saunders never looked comfortable in failing to clear seven feet and three-quarter inches during the qualifying event last Friday night and there are many who would say he should not have made the trip considering his injury-plagued season.

But this has been our best athlete of the last decade, only two years removed from winning the Commonwealth Games, and these are most likely his last Olympics. He deserved a chance to go out with dignity.

Dawnette Douglas was unprepared for these Games and that became evident when she ran her second slowest 100 metres (12.05) and slowest 200 (25.03) this year in going out in both first round heats.

Hopefully, she will learn from this and come back stronger in '96 when she will be a more mature 25.

As a group the sailing effort was the biggest disappointment. Not in that we did not place well, but we failed to adjust to the situation where others could.

This sport required more preparation than most others and our best hope, Peter Bromby and Paul Fisher in the Star class, had not sailed a regatta since March while most of the top finishers here were in constant competition.

There is going to be a call for Olympic class racing in Bermuda, so our hopefuls would have more time to compete before travelling to overseas regattas.

The equestriennes were the hard-luck bunch of the outfit, right from the outset when Peter Gray was ruled out. Mary Jane Tumbridge was well placed at 22nd with only the showjumping remaining in the three-day event before she had to withdraw her ailing horse, Bermuda's Option.

And Nicola DeSousa, who hinted that she did not want to compete with Gray left behind in England, handled the added adversity well by finishing the event in 45th place out of 82 riders.

The equestrianism effort was concluded by Dunkley who was joint 29th out of 49 riders in the individual dressage with a personal best score of 1,486 points.

The swimming team were certainly a joy to watch.

They were the first to start and the first to finish, and their accomplishments were foremost in these Games until Douglas and Wellman's big day.

However our young swimming team are not quite at the level with the world's best, but they did send some ripples through the Commonwealth.

Breaststrokers Jenny Smatt, Chris Flook and and the 4x100 metres freestyle relay team of Ian Raynor, Mike Cash, Craig Morbey and Geri Mewett are now highly ranked in the Commonwealth on the basis of their performances here.

True, they did not make the finals in a single event, in fact they were not even close. But out of 14 swims here there were 11 personal bests of which eight were good for national records. And this is the place to do it.

To put the team's week in better perspective, Britain only recorded 13 personal bests amongst seven swimmers out of a team of 31.

All of which prompted former Royal Gazette reporter Martin Swain who is now at the Wolverhampton Express to declare: "There will be a major inquest when they get home. It's not like they were expected to win the damned thing but only 13 personal bests from a squad of 31 is absolutely disgraceful.'' So there. The Bermuda swim team typified the overall effort of the Olympic contingent. They were the best that they could be.