Pregnant Williams-Darling to miss Olympics

NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC)

Bahamian Tonique Williams-Darling has announced that she is pregnant and will not defend her Olympic 400-metre title in Beijing this summer.

Williams-Darling broke her silence Tuesday night, following numerous calls from her teammates, including top male 400-metre runner Chris Brown, to give an explanation as to why she was not competing and why she was absent from the National Championships last weekend.

"For a long time, I wasn't in a happy place but I'm in a happy place now," said the veteran quarter-miler, who is married to Dennis Darling, another Bahamian athlete.

"I had some medical issues this year and Dennis and I were expecting our first child. That interrupted my training and we needed time together as a family."

Most acclaimed Bahamian

Williams-Darling, the only individual Olympic gold medallist ever for The Bahamas with her triumph in Athens four years ago, has not competed since running 50.11 seconds in September 2006 and her fans worldwide were left wondering about her absence from the track.

Many were expecting an appearance from arguably the most acclaimed Bahamian individual competitor in history at last weekend's National Championships, but she failed to show.

"It is the Bahamian people that continue to encourage and support us and Williams-Darling, whom I haven't spoken with in almost a year, needs to say what is going on," said Chris Brown, a two-time world fourth place finisher (2005 and 2007).

Despite rumours suggesting Williams-Darling was on the verge of retiring, the 32-year-old made it clear that she was just taking a break from the track to deal with some personal aspects of her life.

The former University of South Carolina star added that she is now comfortable with her status and was looking forward to starting her campaign again in 2009.

The former Golden League Jackpot winner did not put a date on when she would actually hang up her spikes, but promised to keep the engine running in her attempt to regain her World Championship title in Berlin.

Williams-Darling is currently the highest-ranked Caribbean female 400-metre runner on the Performance List of all-time.

She owns a personal best of 49.07, achieved in Berlin, Germany, in her Olympic and US$500,000 Golden League year in 2004.