File
Kerron Stewart ... If you want to be great you have to be a master of what you do.

Elton Tucker, Assistant Editor - Sport

BEIJING, China:

Bahamian Henry Rolle sees only gold for Jamaica's Kerron Stewart when the women's 100 metres final is run tomorrow.

He has a vested interest in the national women's 100 metres champion finishing on top of the podium. He was her coach while she was a student at Auburn University in the United States and he remains in charge as her personal coach during the early years of a professional career.

According to Rolle, Stewart is ready to do all that it will take to win that gold.

Mentally prepared

"Training has gone really well. But when you get to this stage it is really a mental preparation and that has also gone really well. The only expectation here is to win. If it is 12 seconds flat and she is the gold medalist that's all that matters."

Rolle, however, does not really think 12-flat can win the gold medal here on Sunday night at 10:30 ( 9:30 a.m. Ja time).

"Realistically, to beat her it is going to take a 10.7. I think she is ready to run 10.7."

A time below her personal best 10.80 - the time she did to win the national title in June - would take Stewart close to the national record of 10.74, held by Merlene Ottey since 1996. No other Jamaican woman has gone below 10.80.

But Rolle, a coach for 13 years, first at the high school then at college and international levels, including with The Bahamas' national team which has produced outstanding sprinters such as Chandra Sturrup and Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, was quick to point out that only medals count at the Olympics.

"But, we do not mark our achievements by time when you get to this stage," he said.

The fast time Stewart did in winning at the National Championships did not surprise Rolle.

Before this year Stewart had not broken 11 seconds but everything has been on track for her to run fast times this year.

"I really thought she would have broken 11 seconds last year, but remember she was not in the best form she could have been in the World Championships in Osaka. She got hurt in the Paris grand prix before the meet and we fought hard for her to come back in three weeks to be ready for Osaka. Going into the championships she was not in the best form she could have been in and was fortunate enough to reach the final.

Expecting big things

"I told her going into the Jamaica trials this year that she would run two-tenths faster than she did the previous year. I was expecting something around 10.83 or 10.82," Rolle said.

He is also expecting big things for her in the 200 metres. At the national trials she was second to Veronica Campbell-Brown in 21.99.

"Honestly, I thought she could have run a bit faster in the 200m if she had executed the race like we had trained to do. She did not run the turn but hopefully she will have that opportunity here."

The women's 200 metres heats start on Tuesday, day five of the Beijing Olympics track and field schedule.