Debbie Ferguson (© getty images)
Biography
A Bahamian “golden girl”, Debbie Ferguson was born on 16 January 1976 in Nassau, Bahamas. A prodigious sprinter, Ferguson made her first international appearance at the 1992 IAAF World Junior Championships aged 16. Winner of the CAC’s 200m in 1995 and 100m in 1997, Ferguson won the much coveted NCAA sprint double in 1998.
For her third appearance at the IAAF World Championships in Seville 1999, Ferguson anchored the Bahamas’ 4x100m relay team to an unprecedented gold medal which was the prelude to a superb 2000 Olympic Games. In Sydney, Ferguson was one of only two women to qualify for both the 100m and 200m final before producing a magnificent effort to anchor the Bahamas’ sprint relay team to Olympic glory.
Ferguson won her first World Championships individual medal in Edmonton 2001 (200m silver) and her first individual Olympic medal in Athens 2004 (200m bronze). She also completed a tremendous sprint double at the 2002 Commonwealth Games establishing Games records in both the 100m and 200m before grabbing her third medal of the championships with the 4x100m relay.
A Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations since 2003, Ferguson is a member of the IAAF Athletes’ Commission.