Pauline Davis - Running Sideways: The Olympic Champion Who Made Track and Field History

Pauline Davis is a Bahamian former sprinter who competed in five Olympic Games. After winning silver at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, she achieved two gold medals in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, becoming the first woman from the Caribbean to win an individual gold medal in sprinting.

In 2007, Davis became the first woman of color elected to the prestigious World Athletics Council. After serving on the council for twelve years, she was awarded a Lifetime Honorary Membership.

To this day, she remains an advisor to the international track and field community.

Davis lives in Nassau, The Bahamas. She serves as a senior official at The Bahamas Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, while also coaching the next generation of Bahamian athletes.

T. R. Todd is an award-winning writer, journalist, biographer, and novelist with experience in Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and The Bahamas.

A former journalist at the Nassau Guardian, Todds experience with The Bahamas stretches back more than a decade. He also served as the Associated Press correspondent for the country and covered multiple hurricanes.

Todd is the author of four other books, ranging from fiction to non-fiction to memoir.

He has also published numerous articles on a wide variety of subjects. Todds work has appeared in newspapers across North America, including the New York Times, Huffington Post, Globe and Mail,and Toronto Star.

He lives in Ottawa, Canada.

I could write an entire book to thank the people that helped me reach my goals in life. You dont go from the ghetto of Bain Town to Olympic gold to World Athletics without a great deal of support and encouragement. I have been unbelievably fortunate and blessed. Thank you to all who were a part of this journey.

In particular, I want to thank my incredible familyall my brothers and sistersand of course my mummy and daddy, for all their hard love and steadfast support. Right alongside them is my vast, extended family, including my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I must thank my Coach Dad, Neville Wisdom, and the entire Wisdom family, for changing my life and setting me on the path, along with Carlton Williams, who loved, sponsored, and supported me for so many years.

Thank you to Sir Lynden Pindling. While I was not always aware of his support, he had an indelible impact on my life. Also thank you to Hubert Ingraham, who saved my athletic career during some very dark days.

To my Golden Girl sistersEldece Clarke, Savatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup, and Debbie Ferguson. Through thick and thin, we have persevered and stayed true to each other. Like all families, we might not agree all the time, but I love each and every one of you. Thank you for the impact you all had on my life.

A special thanks goes to Lord Sebastian Coe, and all of World Athletics, for their exceptional support. I am also very appreciative to Dick Pound for his participation and insights in this book.

There were so many amazing contributors to this book and those who have impacted my life, without whom none of this would be possible: Loren Seagrave, Paul Doyle, Don Myers, Wayne Williams, Terry Trundle, Dave Radaszewski, Manley Waller, Gwen Torrence, Jennifer Innis-Stephens, Annette Munroe,Frank Rutherford, Judy Whyms, Dawn Knowles, Jackie Dames, Alan Pinto, Fred Sturrup, Merlene Ottey, Grace Jackson, Nick Dean, Stanley Mitchell, Peter Ramsay, Laverne Eve, Victor Lopez, Amadeo Francis, Brent Stubbs, Elaine Thompson, Sharonda Lewis-Pryor, Flora Hyacinth and all my Alabama teammates, Donald Quarrie, Desmond Bannister, Rupert Gardiner, Chryste Gaines, Sharon Couch, Pascal Rollings, Enrico Dionisi, Sandra Giovanelli, Andy Norman, Cathy Freeman, Wilfred Meert, Glen Mills, Don Coleman, Donovan Bailey, Juliet Cuthbert, and Michael Johnson.

Thank you to the Bain Town Flyers, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, the Bahamas Olympic Committee, the Nassau Guardian, the Tribune, the University of Alabama, Nike, Mizuno, Puma, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, the Bahamas Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, Palmdale Primary, Columbus Primary, D. W. Davis Junior High, L. W. Young Junior High, and Government High School. To all my past team-mates, training partners, and competitorsyou know who you are, and what impact youve had on my life.

Lastly, I must thank the Bahamian peoplethey are my heart, my rock, and my ultimate motivation.

This book is for all of those who have struggled, or are still struggling, in the face of adversity. It is for all of those who have suffered stolen moments. I hope my story inspires you to keep going and never give up in pursuit of your dreams.

June 11, 2010

S ix months after Thomas Bach and the International Olympic Committee announced I would receive the gold medal in the 200 meters, I was finally summoned to Government House.

I decided to wear my Olympic uniform for the occasionthe same white skirt and aquamarine blazer I wore for the Opening Ceremonies in 2000, when I held our flag aloft in Sydney. A limousine arrived in the afternoon and brought me to the colonial mansion on a hill overlooking Nassaus harbor. Built in 1806, this stuccoed coral-rock building was the imposing residence of the British governor. Today, it is the residence of the governor general, our representative to the Queen of England.

As we rolled up to the gate, I remembered the poor, barefoot girl who used to stand across the street in awe. She and her friends on Fleming Street would hear about an event at Government House, so theyd trudge up the hill, excitedly, just to watch the beautifully dressed men and women in their fancy hats and gloves enter through this gate.

That barefoot girl was me, Pauline from Bain Town. She never could have imagined this moment.

As the limousine came to a halt, members of the Defense Force, in full uniform, opened the door and escorted me inside.

Of course, I would have preferred to receive my gold medal in Sydney, ten years earlier, with one hundred thousand people in the stadium and millions of others watching from around the world. Who wouldnt? Like all Olympians, you crave that ultimate moment, towering on the top of the podium, your flag in the middle, raised to the sky. And then, you stand at attention and hear your national anthem played.

I had been through so much adversity in my life. The pimple on the buttthats what the Americans used to call our tiny island nation to the south. Just once, I would have loved to stand there, by myself, at the top of that podium, so others could witness the pimple have its day.

But when I entered the hall, those feelings melted away.

As the doors opened, I was flanked by the faces of my past. They were all waiting for memy closest friends, family, and colleagues. I walked down the center aisle and saw my mummy, my many brothers and sisters, and members of the Wisdom family, all beaming back at me with pride. And there was Eldece, my oldest girlfriendmy oldest rival.

Front and center, naturally, was Annette MunroeCousin Netwho had predicted, ten years ago, that one day this medal would be mine.

Many of them could never have made the trip to Australia. And now they were here.

My villagewithout them, none of it would have been possible. I realized that I didnt need the pomp, the pageantry, and the podium. It was my village that truly mattered.

At the front of the room was Alberto Juantorena, a double Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, and a fellow council member on World Athletics. He was chosen as the Caribbean representative to drape the gold medal around my neck. I bowed deeply and felt its weight for the first time.

Ten years of waiting. A lifetime of sacrifice.

My village and I stood at attention as they played the Bahamian national anthemLift up your head to the rising sun, Bahamaland...