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And the training begins. The Beijing Olympics are barely over, but the campaign to qualify for the 2012 London Games has begun.

While the 2008 Games will not go down in history as one of Bermuda's most successful, there were some high points to build upon.

Kiera Aitken

Swimming

Place: 33rd of 49

Kiera was rightly pleased as she smashed the Bermuda 100 metre backstroke record by just over 1.5 seconds. She finished well down the field in 33rd, but swam a 1:02.62 and won her heat, which exceeded the expectations set for the two-time Olympian.

Kiera swam in the slowest seeded heat and beat others in several heats. It is a shame she wasn't in a higher heat because she might have gone even faster.

These Games might have been her last hurrah, but with her Bareclona swim club looking to pay its athletes, Kiera will probably be around in 2012 and position herself as Bermuda's greatest female swimmer of all time.

Tyrone Smith

Long jump

Place: 15th of 41

Smith knew going into the games that it only takes one great leap to make it to the podium. He barely missed out on qualifying for the final with a leap of 6.91 metres - just 0.02 shy of making the finals.

His best pre-Olympic mark was 8.03 metres, which earned him Bermuda's male athletics slot. The minimum B qualifying standard was 8.05 metres. The youngster hasn't been competing in the long jump for many years and with the backing of Carl Lewis, when London rolls around look for him to be there having made whatever the minimum standard is.

Roy Burch

Swimming

Place: 60th of 64

Burch swam in the second slowest 100 metre freestyle heat and got off to a fast start clocking 24.64 at 50 metres before he faded down the stretch. He was disappointed with his performance but undaunted.

London was always the goal for Roy, 22, so the China Olympics were a good base to build from. If the 50 metre pool ever gets built at the National Centre, that would not only help Roy's efforts, but all of Bermuda's swimmers.

Arantxa King

Long jump

Place: 36th out of 42

The former Junior World triple jump champ earned Bermuda's female athletics slot and there was some hope of a top 25 showing.

King's leap of 6.05 metres saw her finish 19th of 21 in her qualifying group as she scratched on two of her three jumps.

The teenager still has a long career ahead of her and is sure to improve greatly while competing for Stanford University in California. At 18 she should have several more Olympics in her future.

Jillian Terceira

Showjumping

Place: Eliminated

A good showing on day one saw Jillian aboard Chaka tied for 39th, but that was laid to waste when she was eliminated on day two and tied for last place with five other competitors.

This was a particularly weak performance in light of complaining that she was the better candidate to represent Bermuda in Beijing over Patrick Nisbett, who had initially earned the showjumping slot.

The Bermuda Equestrian Federation is hoping to qualify a full team for the London Games with Jillian as part of the squad. The board will have it work cut out for them in healing the rift that's developed between the Terceira and Nisbett camps over this Olympic squabble.

Flora Duffy

Triathlon

Place: Did not finish

Flora was the wunderkind of the triathlon world and hopes were high - and maybe unrealistic - that she would pull off a top 10 performance in China.

She came out of the swim in 42nd place, but soon faltered on the bike and was pulled from the race after being lapped.

Flora, 20, still has tonnes of potential and should easily qualify not only for London, but the 2016 games as well if she wants to dedicate her life to the sport.

Overall

So where does this Olympic team rank against Bermuda's other squads?

A fair assessment would place it as the 14th best out of 16 teams.

The 1936 team sent six swimmers with the best performance being a 21st out of 39. In 1956 Bermuda was only represented in sailing and finished 15th out of 16.[[In-content Ad]]

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