The Blues Bajan sensation is now complete and is set to compete at this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, China, for their home country of Barbados.

2008 OUA champion and 2004 Olympian Terrence Haynes will join his longtime friend and Varsity Blues teammate, Martyn Forde, in Beijing after qualifying for the men’s 100m freestyle at the Charlotte Ultraswim meet in Charlotte, North Carolina last night (June 6). The Barbados Olympic committee will ratify their Olympic team on July 15.

“To qualify at this meet was the plan all along - this is great”, exclaimed an obviously ecstatic Haynes. “We had a long-term goal. I had been to a series of meets over the last few months and my time kept improving. Byron [MacDonald] told me that Charlotte is where I would meet the standard. I’m relieved and excited. Now I can really focus on training and not worry about qualifying.”

Haynes’ mother Pamela flew to North Carolina for the event and wasn’t disappointed as her son beat the Olympic standard of 50.98 by just over a tenth of a second, swimming a personal best time of 50.87.

“This is great news, it’s great for Terrence”, said Blues swimming head coach Byron MacDonald, who was on hand in Charlotte to coach Haynes. “He’s obviously very happy and I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Haynes and Forde had an outstanding 2007-08 season with the Blues. At the OUA championships, the duo took the top two spots in both the 50m and 100m free. The pair also stood atop the podium at the CIS championships with Forde earning the gold and Haynes following up with the silver medal performance in the 50m free event.

Both swimmers will compete in two final pre-Olympic events; the Quebec Cup/Bell Grand Prix in Montreal and the Canadian National Championships in Winnipeg, Manitoba. These championships adopt the Olympic sequencing of preliminaries and finals and will be the final preparation for Haynes and Forde before the duo heads to China.