It is a long way to go for just 100metres but Katy Sealy can now call herself an Olympic athlete.
Friends and family of the Ipswich Harriers heptathlete were glued to their TV screens at 3pm today as the 25-year-old made her first ever appearance in the greatest sporting show on Earth.
Running in the women’s 100m hurdles Sealy, a former Farlingaye High School student who lives in Bawdsey, was competing for the tiny Central American nation of Belize.
Sealy’s grandparents lived in the country in the 1960s and her father was born there, meaning she was eligible to be selected for the Games.
Normally a heptathlete, Sealy took part in the hurdles as a wildcard entry; countries with no qualifiers can choose one male and one female wildcard to compete for them.
As such she did not need to meet the standard of 13.0seconds – currently her personal best (PB) is 15.2secs.
She had hoped to beat this when she ran in heat one of the event, but finished just outside this in a time of 15.79secs, coming in eighth place.
In the heptathlon, which does not accept wildcard entries in the Olympics, Sealy has won three consecutive golds in the Central American Championships, representing Belize since 2010.
She has broken several national records including in the high jump, javelin and indoor 800m.
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