Background
Barbados is the easternmost of the islands located within the Caribbean Sea. Home to 280,000 residents, Barbados was first settled by the British in the 1620s. The nation remained a British colony until it declared total independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. The very first appearance of a uniquely Barbadian delegation at the Olympic games came two years after it declared independence from the United Kingdom. At its debut, nine male athletes arrived to participated at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Previously, Barbados (as a British colony) constituted a major part of the West Indies Federation along with Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, which sent a delegation to participate at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
Between its 1968 debut and its appearance at the Beijing Olympics, Barbadian delegations appeared at every Summer Olympics except for the 1980 Summer Olympics, which took place in Moscow in the Soviet Union. With the exceptions of the 1968 and the 2008 Barbadian teams, every appearance by Barbados at the Olympics (as of Beijing) included at least ten athletes; its smallest delegation arrived in 2008, carrying only eight competitors. All the delegations except the one that arrived in 1968 have included female athletes. Prior to and including the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there had been one medalist from Barbados. Obadele Thompson won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, as part of Barbados' most successful showing at any Olympic games as of 2008.
In Beijing, eight athletes participated across three sports (swimming, track and field, and sailing) in ten distinct events. Gregory Douglas, the nation's only sailor in Beijing, was the youngest participant from Barbados at 18 years old; runner Jade Bailey, the only female athlete in the delegation, was the oldest, at 25 years old. There were no medalists from Barbados at Beijing. Swimmer Bradley Ally bore the flag of Barbados at the ceremonies.
Read more about this topic: Barbados At The 2008 Summer Olympics
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