BARCELONA -- Chef d'mission Jimmy Amos will return to Bermuda a content man after an Olympic Games in which the Island's 20-athlete team pulled emotions every which way and just missed a medal on their final night of competition.

Brian Wellman was four-and-three quarter inches away from a bronze medal and even less from maybe even more on a foul jump in the triple jump final. He finished fifth in a sterling performance that concluded Bermuda's participation on a high note.

Earlier, Troy Douglas became the first Bermudian to contest a 400 metre semi-final at the Olympic Games and he was sixth, and equestrienne Suzanne Dunkley recorded her highest ever score of 1,486 to place joint 20th out of 49 riders in the individual dressage.

Amos, who is also vice president of the Bermuda Olympic Association, had every reason to be satisfied with the all-round performance of the team.

"Certainly, I think last night stands out as a potential medal-winning opportunity in Brian's competition,'' he said yesterday. "He was so close and yet so far, but when you look at what Bermuda has achieved here ... this is after all the best in the world and I think just to stand next to them and compete as well as Brian and Troy, who was in the semi-final, is one hell of an achievement for both of those guys.'' Amos had particular praise for the swimming team who, though they were never close to reaching the finals in their respective events, recorded 11 personal bests and set eight national records.

"As far as personal bests are concerned I think swimming probably stands out as the high achievers,'' he said. "Practically everything they did was a personal best, including the relay team which eclipsed their personal best by over three seconds. So we have every reason to be proud of the swimming team as well on a PB basis.'' The biggest disappointment came in sailing. No one made any serious inroads, the highest finish coming on day one in the Star class when Peter Bromby and Paul Fisher placed 10th.

From there they had a tough regatta while the others, Paula Lewin in the Europe Dinghy class, Blythe Walker and Ray DeSilva in the 470 class and Reid and Jay Kempe in the Tornado class, struggled throughout.

Said Amos: "Sailing's an event in which every regatta is so different and if you analyse the yachting you would see that although they finished in the high teens and even above, some of the company they had down there were world champions.

"So even a world champion or a class champion in any event such as this has his bad weeks. The Bermudians had some pretty good company down there with them. I don't think we can be critical of the sailors. All we can say is that everybody did their best.'' The equestrian team were dogged by bad luck from the outset when inspirational leader Peter Gray was scratched after a life-threatening fall in a warm-up event in England, less than two weeks before the opening ceremonies here.

Mary Jane Tumbridge and Nicola DeSousa were then forced to compete as individuals, as three are needed for a three-day event team, and Dunkley was the lone dressage rider.

But Tumbridge suffered the misfortune of not finishing the three-day event when her horse, Bermuda's Option, lost a shoe during the steeplechase phase of the endurance test, and severely bruised his front left foot.

After treatment that carried into the wee hours of the next morning failed to produce positive results, Tumbridge was forced to abandon her first Olympic Games with the showjumping remaining. Fellow rookie DeSousa and Prairie King did finish the event and were 45th out of the original starting list of 82 riders.

"The poor horse had problems with his hooves and there was nothing she could do about that,'' said Amos. "So those are the breaks of the Games and the veterinarian was quite right in withdrawing the animal to avoid any further injury to him.

"And Nicola ... well, Nicola DeSousa rode to her best and she too beat some good people. And finally in equestrian, Suzie Dunkley finishing 29th as she did in her particular discipline. Once again some of the horses she beat and some of the countries she beat, particularly in a sport where so much money is spent on horses, is fantastic.

"She beat an awful lot of very valuable horses and she certainly achieved the highest points score she's ever done in her event. You can't ask anything else.'' Now, said Amos, it was time to look ahead to 1996 when the Olympics will be held in Atlanta.

The difficulty is that you get a turnover of athletes in all the disciplines,'' he added. "Some may stay, some may not, so in a sense you're almost starting all over again.

"In sailing they've got to get into that class right now and spend the next four years competing in that class. If the ones who are here choose to stay in that class they are that much further ahead in experience and knowledge because it takes a long time to get used to these boats.

"In athletics, when you're up against the clock, the age of the athletes has some bearing on it. Whether they want to pursue that for yet another four years, given there is life after sport, remains to be seen.

"But they also will have to stay very close to that sport and compete internationally all the time for the next four years. It doesn't matter which discipline we talk about, it's all the same.

"The money that's going to be required to achieve that thrust for the next four years in preparation is something that is a prohibiting number to a lot of people. I think the major difficulty for us is going to be finding the money for them to do all this pre-Olympic preparation, quite apart from the personal dedication they've got to supply. That's going to be tough, it's going to get tougher.'' In 1996 the sailing will be held in Savannah, Georgia, where conditions could be suited more to Bermuda, but by then they might have to go through a qualifying system, as the International Olympic Committee pursues avenues to stunt the growth of athletes in the Olympic Village.

Said Amos: "More sports could go the route of a lot of the team sports with regional or hemispheric qualifiers and I gather in sailing they are going to be making decisions soon on what the future of sailing in the Olympics is and how they are going to whittle that number down before the Games.

"So Bermuda might find itself in Western Hemisphere qualification rounds in whatever sport they want to get into. And unless they finish in some yet-to-be-determined quota within their discipline, they're out.

"It will change the standard requirements that we have generally set because they will be set automatically. Either you're in the top 10 for example or you're out, and that's that.'' The International Yacht Racing Union is expected to meet by the end of the year to go over the Olympics and put into force new rulings for future qualification.

Amos added that a tough road faces high jumper Clarance (Nicky) Saunders and sprinter Troy Douglas who will both be 33 when the Atlanta Games open.

"It's obvious that a guy like Troy, if he had made the finals of the 400 metres, that would have meant an awful lot to him. Or the same if Nicky had been in the finals of the high jump.

"It's like any other discipline, you've got to make a name for yourself and you've got to do it quick. If not, the clock passes you by.'' Not all the contingent will be here when the Games officially close on Sunday night. The swimming team returned yesterday, Paul Fisher returns on Saturday in time to resume fitted dinghy racing and Peter Bromby is expected to touch down on Sunday, probably in enough time to watch the closing ceremonies live on television himself.

"Overall, everybody has conducted themselves as seasoned competitors,'' added Amos. "They represented Bermuda well in every aspect as sportsmen and good competitors.''