SHELDON LONGLEY, NG Sports Editor, slongley@nasguard.com

The year was 2006 - one of the most painful and excruciating ones in the life of then 24-year-old promising jumper Leevan Sands, who became known to Bahamians and his fans worldwide, simply as 'Superman'. Leevan had tested positive for a banned substance and was out for six months.

It was less than a year after he popped a personal best 8.13 meter (m) leap in the long jump, and he was still a consistent 17m performer in the triple jump. Four years earlier, Leevan erased Frank Rutherford's 10-year national record in the men's triple jump, and the following year, he grabbed what many thought would have been his first of many major international medals - he struck bronze at the 2003 Paris World Championships. That year, he also won a silver medal at the NCAA Indoor Championships where he set a new Bahamian Indoor national record of 8.04m in the Long Jump.

In 2003, Leevan also defeated legendary world record holder Jonathan Edwards when he popped a 17.40m leap in London. Not only did he hand Edwards a rare defeat, but at a time when a raucous crowd was steadily behind hometown favorite Edwards, Leevan responded by turning in what was at that time, the second best jump of his career.

He had arrived!

He was no longer the promising junior jumper striking double gold at Carifta each year, but actually one of the best in the world, and he was doing it at the tender age of 22. The future couldn't look any brighter for the rapid rising star, but then, it got drastically worse. In 2004, Sands suffered several injuries which limited his production, and with it being an Olympic year, it couldn't have come at a worse time. Somehow, that year he still managed a 17.41m performance, in of all places, London, which has produced three of the best jumps in his career. At the Athens Olympics that year, Leevan fouled on his first two attempts and failed to make the final. At the 2005 Helsinki World Championships, he bounced back tremendously as he barely missed a medal with a 17.39m fourth place finish.

It was all coming together again for Leevan, and then, an unsuspecting 2006.

In March of 2006, to the shock of many, Leevan tested positive for a banned substance at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. He had never before tested positive for any performing enhancing drug, and because of his strong Christian values and casual demeanor, his innocence was never questioned nor doubted among his many loyal fans. Leevan said that it was an over-the-counter drug which he purchased for pain, but unknown to him, the Vick's Inhaler carried a banned substance on the IAAF list. As a result, Leevan unknowingly consumed the banned substance, L-methamphetamine, and was consequently suspended for six months, even though it was found by a local doctor to be non-performance enhancing. We all believed Leevan... but he still had to pay the price!

He was provisionally suspended, and returned to the scene in 2007, but never quite blossomed to the potential that Bahamians knew he was capable of producing. When I spoke to him last year, Leevan said that he basically just wanted to make a successful return in 2007, and then really explode in 2008. He was right on target! This year, he promised that the world can expect to see him return to form, and who are we to doubt him! I actually thought he would explode from last year as vengeance for that six-month ban, which to this date, he and many others feel was wrongfully levied.

It was at the London Grand Prix, after the Pan American Games last year, that I knew for sure that Leevan meant business. He popped what would have been a personal best, national record setting leap, but his attempt was .5 meters per second over the allowing wind reading.

This year, Leevan is picking up where he left off. Only two jumpers in the world have jumped farther than his 17.25m mark in Baton Rouge, Louisiana a little over three weeks ago. This past weekend, Leevan was splendid again, with a 16.88m mark at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix in Doha. It was his jump three weeks ago, which is still turning heads though, and have many Bahamians optimistic about a possible medal in Beijing. I believe he can do it! I know he can!

Cuban Arnie David Girat has the three best jumps in the world this year, but his best mark is only 17.50m. Leevan was just a .5 mps tail wind away from topping that distance last year, and certainly, he has the ability to do it this year.

For a while, Christian Olsson was touted as the best triple jumper in the world and the heir apparent to world record holder Edwards, but he had an injury prone 2007, and his status is still unknown for 2008. I'm sure Bahamians would love to see Leevan beat Olsson in a head-to-head match up, but a possible Olympic absence by the soaring Swede could heighten the medal chances for Leevan. I really think it doesn't matter though. I'm predicting that with or without the former World and present Olympic Champion, Leevan would ascend to the medal dais at the Beijing Olympic Games, and it might just be a golden salute to our Bahamian 'Superman'.

Go get your medal Leevan!