SAVANNAH, Ga. - Amara Jones, a 2012 graduate of Savannah State University, experienced the highlight of her young track and field career as a member of the Bahamian National Olympic Team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
 
Jones, SSU's first female athlete to win individual Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships, qualified as an alternate on the 4x100-meter relay team for the Bahamas. She did not get to race but was shown by NBC television cameras as she walked into Olympic Stadium during the parade of nations. She was among roughly 10,500 athletes who participated in the July 27 opening ceremony.
 
“When we were walking in, I was just like, 'Oh, my gosh. This is so big,'” Jones said last Thursday from her home in Freeport, Grand Bahama. “I was smiling and (teammates later) told me I was doing the wrong wave. I was apparently doing the wave that only the Queen (of England) was supposed to do.
 
“Apparently, that wave that everyone assumes is the 'beauty pageant' wave, that's actually the Queen's wave. And she's supposed to be the only one who does that wave. I didn't know. And I was just like, 'Hi. Hello. How are you guys doing?' They didn't tell us, and my teammates noted it to me when we got back (to the Olympic Village).”
 
Memorable opening ceremony
The 20-year-old Jones, who enrolled as an SSU freshman at age 16, heard fans screaming 'Go, Bahamas!' as she walked with her teammates during the parade of nations. NBC cameras captured her smiling reaction, which was seen throughout the world.
 
“I didn't know I was on TV,” she said. “I thought I was going to be a little spec on the side. But they caught me.”
 
Jones' mother, Maralyn Burrows, watched the broadcast from Freeport, Grand Bahama, and saw Amara.
 
“My mom was like, 'I was so happy when I saw you,'” Jones said. “My friends were like, 'Oh, my gosh, I almost cried when I saw you on TV.' My family did not get to attend, so I was not looking for anyone in the stands. You couldn't really see when the lights were going up and down. I didn't have anyone to look for so I was just smiling and waving.”
 
During the opening ceremony, Jones met her favorite athlete, the United States' Sonya Richards-Ross, who days later won the gold medal in the 400-meter dash.
 
“And I got a picture with Sonya Richards. She's my hero,” Jones said. “It's the wallpaper on my laptop (computer) right now. I got a picture with her and that was the only time that I have ever been star struck. And, granted, she seems like a really down to earth person, but she's done the things that I want to do. And she's continuing to do them.
 
“So when I saw her, I was jumping up and down and I was like 'Wooo!' And I've never done that before. I always made fun of people who did that because I was like, 'I don't understand how you make those noises.' But now I do. Now I do. I was so overwhelmed. I was so happy to see her.”
 
Jones also met NBA stars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, who went on to win gold with the U.S. men's basketball team.
 
“They are quite tall,” she said. “I spoke to Kobe and I took a picture for him with, I'm assuming, one of the guys from China, but I'm not sure. He was really cool about it. He wasn't like, 'I'm Kobe Bryant. You can't talk to me.' He was really nice.”
 
The 5-foot-10 Jones said she wanted to take more photographs than she did but space was tight during the parade of nations.
 
“The U.S. team walked in together. I was going to try to take pictures of them but there were so many people,” she said.
 
Jones said the magnitude of event hit her as confetti shot out of canons and rained down on the stadium.
 
“The moment it hit me was when the confetti dropped,” she said. “I was just so happy. It was sinking in, walking in (the stadium) and while we were on the stage. I got back to the (Olympic) village and I was like, 'Wow! I'm here.'”
 
Jones did not get an opportunity to run for the Bahamas in the 4x100-meter relay, which the U.S. women won in a world-record time of 40.82 seconds. It was the U.S. women's first gold medal in the 4x100 since 1996.
 
Training for future races
Jones left London and returned to Freeport late Aug. 12. She has gotten little sleep.
 
“Family wants to see me. Friends want to see me,” she said. “It was really weird. Yesterday, I went into the Ministry of Education building to do something with an application and a young lady walked in. She had just recently graduated. And she went, 'Oh, my gosh! You're that girl I saw on TV.' It was really funny because she was excited to see me but I didn't know what to do because I still feel like a normal person. It was really awesome to have the (Olympic) experience.
 
“I want to be in the World Championships next year. I definitely want to be in Rio in 2016. I'm gonna be there.”
 
Jones is attempting to get a job as a teacher. She also will continue running, and has been training non-stop since last August. Jones is training for the World Track & Field Championships XIV in Moscow in August of 2013. She also is focused on competing in the inaugural 2014 International Amateur Athletic Federation World Relay Championships in the Bahamas, and in the 2015 World Championships.
 
“Rio is the ultimate goal right now,” she said of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
 
Skipping graduation, becoming a MEAC champion
In 2008, Jones watched the Summer Olympics when she was in the Bahamas getting ready to move to the U.S. to attend SSU.
 
“I actually knew some of the people that were there,” she said. “I always wanted to be able to do something more than I did. And when I got to college, when I got to Savannah State and I started getting better, then it kind of became something that I really wanted to do.
 
“I wasn't very serious about track in high school. And when I got to college I kind of fell in love with it. Once I got the incentive to do it, I was just ready to go. And it became something that was possible. There is nothing that you can tell me now to make me not believe that I can do more than I am already doing.”
 
Jones, who graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Marine Science, skipped her May 5 ceremony so she could compete in the 2012 MEAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
 
Jones won MEAC championships in three of the four events in which she competed. She led SSU, winning the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash with school-record (and personal-best) times of 23.28 seconds and 52.43 seconds, respectively. She ran the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay and won with teammates Jazy Seay-Blane, Aleah Hordges and Chavonte Roberts, setting a school record with a time of 3 minutes, 27.27 seconds.
Jones finished third in the 4x100-meter relay with teammates Asia Stinson, Jade Bentley and Roberts. They ran it in 45.71 seconds.
 
Jones said she chose to skip her SSU graduation ceremony because she did not want to abandon her teammates.
 
“I was OK until we got to the track and everyone was asking me how I felt about missing my graduation,” she said. “I was OK until everyone started asking the question. When I was warming up for the 4x100, I was kind of not talking to anybody because I didn't feel like talking. I was getting kind of emotional. At one point, I started crying and I remember Coach Whit (Ted Whitaker, SSU's coach) calling my name but I didn't want to talk so I just kept walking. And I think that might be the only time that I've ever done that. I was afraid that he was going to shout at me.”
 
After placing third in the 4x100-meter relay, and winning both the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash, Jones said she was exhausted going into the 4x400-meter relay, the last race of the day.
 
“Aleah ran a good first leg,” Jones said. “Jazy went out there and she ran a really good second leg. I want to say we were in second place at that point. And Chavonte, she went out and ran a helluva third leg. She ran really well.
 
“We were in second place when I got the baton. I was really tired. I really don't remember anything that happened until the last 120 meters. I don't remember receiving the baton but I remember the last 120 meters, seeing the girl from Hampton. She was a little ways in front of me. I just remember thinking, 'This is for the team and it's the last race of the day.' We always leave it all out on the track. So I started picking up.
 
“I have never, ever, run like that in my life. If I could learn to run that way, then I'm pretty sure that I would have the records that I want to have. I started picking up, and she was in front of me so she was a target. And I passed her and we won. I was so excited until I stopped moving. We broke the school record that day.”
 
Jones, who was last time on SSU's campus in June, said she hopes to return for Homecoming festivities the weekend of Oct. 20.