By Neto Baptiste
National women’s sprinter Joella Lloyd will be targeting 11.1 seconds at the Tokyo Olympics in hopes of making her mark at what will be her first major senior games.
Lloyd is set to attend the postponed 2020 Games set for July 28 to August 8 in Japan, following confirmation from the IOC she has received a universality entry into the 100-meter event.
“I expect that I will do well, I know that I don’t want to just go there just to show up. I want to do my best so I’ll be training extremely hard and I’ve been training hard, but I have more of a purpose and it feels like I will get the job done. It’s going to be very hard to make it to the semis and even harder to make it to the finals. I feel like it would be 11.1 or better to make it to either one [but] I feel like that once I execute my race I have a shot of making it into the semifinals and hopefully the finals too but I do think that I’ll have to run at least 11.1,” she said.
Speaking with Observer media from the Bahamas where she recently competed, Lloyd said she could not contain her emotions upon receiving the news, adding that an upcoming under-20 meet will serve as welcomed preparation for the Olympics.
“I was eating lunch and I couldn’t finish my meal because I was just rushing with adrenaline. It’s been a long season and I feel like I really worked for it and I am really happy that I am going because it is an achievement to be called an Olympian; and I am just really excited. I am trying to go the NACAC Under-20 next week so that would be getting another race in and I will be going back to Tennessee to train until we leave for the Olympics,” she said.
Lloyd joins senior men’s sprinter Cejhae Greene, boxer Alston Ryan and sailor Jalese Gordon as athletes confirmed so far for Tokyo.
The Antigua and Barbuda National Olympic Committee (ABNOC), is awaiting confirmation for universality spots for swimmers Samantha Roberts and Stefano Mitchell.