Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetDebbie Ferguson-McKenzie
athletics competitor
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas
About Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie
- Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (born 16 January 1976) is a former Bahamian sprint athlete who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres.
- Ferguson-Mckenzie participated in five Olympics. Ferguson-McKenzie is assistant coach of track and field at University of Kentucky.
- Previously, she coached for four years at the University of Houston.In 1995, she was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the 1995 CARIFTA Games.
- In total she won 7 gold, 9 silver, and 2 bronze CARIFTA Games medals. She had her first major successes with the Bahamian 4×100 metres relay team, winning gold at the Pan American Games and World Championships in Athletics in 1999, and taking another gold at the Olympic Games the following year.
- She won her first individual gold medal at the 2001 World Championships – having initially won silver, gold medallist Marion Jones was later disqualified. The 2002 season was a career high for Ferguson-McKenzie: she won five gold medals, with victories at the IAAF World Cup and Grand Prix Final, and a 100 m, 200 m and relay gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
- Her performance in the 100 m remains a personal best, and her time in the 200 m was a commonwealth games record and fastest by any athlete that year.
- She won her only individual Olympic medal in 2004, taking bronze in the 200 m.
- Injury ruled her out for the whole of 2005.
- She failed to reach the finals at the 2007 World Championships, unable to compete with the new generation of American and Jamaican sprinters.
- However, she managed to reach the 100 and 200 metres finals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was the previous 200 m national record holder with a best of 22.19 seconds.
- Her record was broken by Shaunae Miller-Uibo (22.05 seconds) at the 2016 Jamaica Grand Prix.
- Her 100 m best (10.91) is the second fastest time by a Bahamian after Chandra Sturrup. In 2014 Ferguson-McKenzie became the women's sprints and hurdles coach for the track and field program at the University of Houston.
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