---

With the Olympics starting on the eighth day of the eight month of the eighth year (sense a theme here?), the Bermuda Sun has picked Bermuda's eight best Olympians.

Is there room for argument?

Certainly.

There isn't much debate about including the likes of Clarence Hill, Brian Wellman, Kirk Cooper, Peter Bromby and Clarance Saunders on the list, but that leaves Francis 'Goose' Gosling, Troy Douglas, Eugene 'Penny' Simmons and Alan Burland vying for the last three spots on our team.

We could have made it Bermuda's nine greatest Olympians, but where's the fun in that?

Clarence Hill

Sport: Boxing

Olympics: 1976

Best result: Bronze medal

The only argument here is, is Hill Bermuda's greatest Olympian? There's a pretty convincing sentiment that he is since he is Bermuda's only medal winner (and, by the way, making Bermuda at 53,000 the least populous nation to ever win a medal). Hill knocked out Iran's Parviz Badpa at 2:41 of the second round in his first fight. He then won a unanimous (5-0) decision over Rudy Gauwe of Belgium in his next bout. He picked up the bronze when he lost to Simon Mircea of Romania in the semi-finals.

Brian Wellman

Sport: Triple jump

Olympics: 1988, 1992,1996, 2000

Best results: 5th (1992), 6th (1996)

One of Bermuda's greatest athletes, Wellman's legacy includes a fifth and sixth place finish in the triple jump. He's the only Bermudian to have two top six finishes and is tied with Peter Bromby, going to four Olympics. Wellman is definitely in the discussion as Bermuda's best Olympian.

Peter Bromby

Sport: Sailing

Olympics: 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004

Best results: 4th (2000), 8th (2004)

Greatest Bermudian Olympic sailor? Yes. Greatest Bermudian Olympian? Maybe. Bromby, along with Lee White, was agonizingly close to winning a medal in Sydney in 2000. He won one race and finished in the top five four more times. Athens was a bit disappointing but Bromby did win one race and had two more top fives. He's got four Olympics on his resume and still could add more in the future.

Clarance 'Nicky' Saunders

Sport: High jump

Olympics: 1984, 1988, 1992

Best result: 5th (1988)

Saunders was just two centimetres away from a bronze in Seoul, Korea in '88, when he finished fifth.

In his first games in Los Angeles he missed the final round of qualification by six centimetres. His last hurrah in Barcelona was a bit of a disappointment as he failed to register a legal jump. While not in the top three, Saunders would rate as Bermuda's fourth or fifth greatest Olympian.

Kirk Cooper

Sport: Sailing

Olympics: 1964, 1968, 1972

Best result: 5th (1964)

Cooper, along with Penny Simmons and Conrad Soares were in position to win a medal in 1964 going into the last race. They needed to finish third or higher but ended up 11th. They had a week of great performances including an historic first place as well as a second, fifth, sixth and eighth. Ranks fourth or fifth all-time alongside Saunders.

Troy Douglas

Sport: 100, 200 400 metres

Olympics: 1988, 1992, 1996

Best results: Semi-finals 400m (1996)

Douglas blazed his way to the semis in 1996 by setting a Bermuda national record of 45.26 in the 400m. He also reached the quarter-finals in the 200m. The case for Douglas being on this list is that he's competed in three Olympics and that the sprints is probably the most competitive of all the Olympic disciplines.

The case against? His 14th place finish is lower than three others who could claim a spot as one of Bermuda Great Eight.

Francis 'Goose' Gosling

Sport: Diving

Olympics: 1948, 1952

Best result: 10th (1948)

For five Olympics, Goose's 10th place finish was the best Bermuda produced. He didn't have a shot at a medal, but a photographer's flash messed up one dive and Gosling might have gone as high as sixth place. He was disappointed not to do as well in '52 but with his performance in '48 he was the first Bermudian ever to mount a serious challenge at the Games.

Alan Burland

Sport: Sailing

Olympics: 1984

Best result: 5th

Burland with crew Chris Nash should have won a medal in 1984 except for bad luck. The pair were leading the last race when seaweed got stuck in their rudder rounding the first mark. By the time they had removed it, the other contenders had passed them and gone were their medal hopes.

That was his only Olympics.

Honourable mentions

Penny Simmons, Paula Lewin and Katura Horton-Perinchief

Without a doubt, leaving Simmons off the list of the Great Eight was tough. He competed in four Olympics, and finished as high as fifth, but that placing as well as two of his other Olympics were as crew for Cooper.

Lewin, a sailor, competed in three Games (1992, 1996, 2000). Horton-Perinchief became the first black diver (from any country) to compete in the Olympics

---