ATHENS, GREECE: No athletes from the Eastern Caribbean have ever won an Olympic medal. In the next two weeks, they could easily pick up two gold medals. Leading the charge will be Kittian Kim Collins in the 100 meter sprints, and Grenadian Alleyne Francique, in the 400 meter event. It is expected to be an easier run for Francique, who has been the world’s most consistent performer over the distance this year. Now officially ranked number one in the world, Francique is most pundits’ favorite for gold in the event. It has been a long way from his home village in Dunfermline in Grenada to Anthens in Greece, but many Grenadians are so high with expectations, that most think it is a foregone conclusion that the island’s anthem will be played at the games for the first time ever. Collins has been upstaged of late by Jamaican Asafa Powell, and will be contesting in a strong field, where also the Americans will come into play. His build-up to the games has not been as successful as many would have hoped, but Collins is a big stage performer, as he showed during the Commonwealth Games two years ago when he copped gold at a time everybody was talking up the Britons, and at last year's World Championship in Paris. Other Eastern Caribbean athletes at the games are: Kittian Tiandra Ponteen, who will appear in the 400 meter event, as is Grenada’s Hazel-Ann Regis. They both will attempt to overcome a long season of collegiate track and field, at Florida and LSU, respectively. Both All-Americans at the NCAA level in United States, they have taken different paths this summer. Ponteen won the NACAC Under-23 title in Canada last week, whilst Regis prepared for Athens by running in Europe. Randy Lewis stands out from the rest of the OECS athletes in Athens. Like Francique and Regis, he is from Grenada.. But unlike those two, and every other athlete from the sub-region the former Wichita State Shocker is one of the world's outstanding triple jumpers, even though he has barely competed this year, and has just one mark over 17m in 2004. At WSU, Randy was an All-American long jumper. Aside from Collins, the OECS will be well represented when the men's 100m gets underway. Still just 17, Antigua-Barbuda's Daniel Bailey, a finalist at last month's world Junior Championships, is one of two Antiguan qualifiers. Brendan Christian, who also qualified for the men's 200m, is the other. One of just two OECS men to have gone under 10 seconds for the 100m, Christian hopes to recapture his 2002 form, on which he took his country's first World Junior Championships medal, in the 200m dash. Dion Crabbe, the sole athlete from the British Virgin Islands at the Summer Games, is the other OECS sprinter who will contest the men's 100m. The 27-year-old Central American and Caribbean Games champion will carry the flag of the British dependency after overcoming injury concerns in 2003. Two women will run the 100m dash. Natasha Mayers of St Vincent & the Grenadines is qualified for the 100m and 200m races. The 25-year-old USC grad and OECS record-holder has held her own against the world's best, and form would dictate that she concentrate on the 100m. Former OECS record-holder Heather Samuel of Antigua-Barbuda will represent that nation in the women's 100m. At 34, Heather is the grand dame of OECS athletics. She is a graduate of Murray State, and she remains very involved in the development of track and field in Antigua. Andy Grant is down to compete in the men's 800m from St Vincent & the Grenadines. Grant recently competed for SVG at the NACAC Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada. From the Commonwealth of Dominica, 24-year-old Chris Lloyd qualified for the men's 400m under the IAAF A standard. The Texas Southern University graduate was born in the US Virgin Islands and grew up in the United States, but both his parents are from Castle Bruce, Dominica. Marie-Lyn Joseph, a 22-year-old who has represented the Nature Isle at World Championships, will run the women's 800m. Long distance runners, the Vincentian duo of Pamenos Ballantyne and Zepherinus Joseph are the Caribbean's leading distance runners at the games, and on 29 August they will take on the men's marathon as the curtain come down on Athens 2004. Source:Caribupdate.com