 Mention the sport of cycling to any Barbadian and you can be rest assured that the name Barry Forde will be the first they mention. For never before has a local cyclist earned such fame for himself, both locally and internationally.
And everyone feels as if they know this young champion - his boyish grin and twinkling eyes have splashed many a newspaper's sports page, with headlines like "Cycling Star", "Sprint Sensation", "Cyclist of the Year", and "Golden Boy".
Born in the parish of St. James - the oldest of three children - Barry started racing when he was just 10 years old, and his "racing machine" at this early stage of his cycling career was a chrome-coloured JT Interceptor bicycle.
By the age of 14, while a student at Foundation School, Barry had peddled his way into the record books by claiming the BMX National Championship title of Barbados, dominating the competition in the Match Sprint and 1,000 kilometre races, and also claiming the Pursuit Champion crown.
Over the next four years, this cycling phenomenon - packed with speed in a slight, unassuming frame - totally dominated the Match Sprint events of Barbados. In exciting style, Barry became the undefeated champion in both the Junior and Senior divisions, and set his sights on racetracks outside of Barbados.
"I've always believed in myself," says Barry, "and I've always dreamed that it's possible to conquer the whole world." And at only 20 years of age, Barry set out to do just that.
Competing in the blue and gold colours of the Barbados flag, this young cyclist mounted the winner's podium in Cuba, capturing two gold medals at the ICU World Small Country Championships. And with his father, Colin Forde, as his coach, the next five years would see Barry claim medals in Venezuela, Malaysia, Germany, Colombia, and Mexico in top events such as The Pan American Games, The Commonwealth Games, and Central American and Caribbean Games. In fact, his 1998 gold medal in Malaysia's Commonwealth Games was the first claimed for Barbados in over 30 years - since high jumper Patsy Callender's 1966 win.
In 2002 Barry brought home more gold medals, this time from Ecuador and the Pan American Championships, and today he is one of only five cyclists in the world to have broken the 10-second barrier in the Flying 200 metre event. His time of 9.902, set in Ecuador, has made him the second-fastest cyclist in the world.
And in August of 2003 Barry became the first Barbadian to win a medal at the World Track Cycling Championships, held in Stuttgart, Germany - further establishing him as one of the world's leading cyclists. And a few weeks later Barry pedalled even closer to his goal to dominate his sport by winning two gold medals at the Pan American Games.
Unfortunately for this young cyclist these most recent medals were taken away when the banned substance ephedrine was discovered in his lab samples. The news was a shock to Barry - who had tried to be so careful about the medication he took for an extremely bad cold during that season.
And Barbados stands behind its champion - knowing that he will undoubtedly reclaim world glory once again.
So what's next for this hero on two wheels? "My eyes are set on an Olympic medal" he says, "I would love to be the first West Indian to win one on the cycling track."
Article written in 2004 and compliments of "Ins and Outs of Barbados" Magazine
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