Former track and field All-American Gavin Smellie will compete as part of Canada's 4x100 meter relay team. The International Association of Athletics Federation announced the 16 qualifying relay teams on Tuesday. Swimmer Claire Donahue qualified for the United States team in the 100-meter butterfly last week.
The Canadian relay team qualified in 11th with a two-race average of 38.64 seconds. Jamaica qualified with the fastest time of 37.56. The 4x100-meter relay is one of the final scheduled events of this year's Olympic Games, with round 1 set for Friday, Aug. 10, and the finals to take place on Saturday, Aug. 11.
A native of Etobicoke, Ontario, Smellie twice earned All-America honors during his career on the Hill from 2006-10. He was part of the 2008 All-American 4x400-meter relay team at the 2008 NCAA Indoor championships, and won individual All-America recognition in the 200-meters at the 2009 Outdoor championships. He was also the 2009 Mideast Regional champion in the 200-meters.
Smellie was named all-Sun Belt Conference multiple times during his career, and was selected as the Most Outstanding Performer at both the 2008 SBC Indoor Championships and 2009 Outdoors.
Among his international competition, Smellie ran in the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany, and finished sixth in the finals of the 200-meter dash at the 25th Summer Universiade in Belgrade, Serbia.
Smellie's appearance will mark the 15th time WKU has been represented in an Olympic Track and Field event. The last came in Sydney, Australia in 2000 when Breeda Dennehy represented Ireland in the 10,000-meters.
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