Bodybuilders win two medals at Pan Am Games

Raymond Tucker is definitely back, and he proved it over the weekend, returning home Sunday with one of the country's two bodybuilding medals won at the 14th Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Repbulic.

Aaron Greene got the bronze in the heavyweight division.

Natasha Brown was fifth in the women's fitness segment.

The three-member squad departed New Providence on Saturday, competed in the one-day exhibition sport on Sunday and returned home on Monday. It was a proud Tucker who displayed the silver middleweight medal he won in his first international competition in almost three years.

He was out of competition due to a two-year suspension after failing a drug test. That suspension ended in November 2002.

"I feel like I struck gold," he beamed on Monday at The Nassau Guardian's office which he drove to directly after arriving home.

"It was fantastic. I could not believe the reception I got down there. The people, the competitors, the judges actually remembered me, and they were all excited and welcomed me back with open arms," he said.

"But it was tough," he said of the competition. I expected the best to be there, and the best was there. To come out with the silver medal was a great achievement for both myself and the country," he said.

A Dominican Republic, whom Tucker had not competed against before took the gold. A Trinidad and Tobago competitor who won silver at CAC's last year, took the bronze.

Tucker said he felt good in being able to take the silver medal over him.

Tucker's downfall he said was his lack of confidence on stage, after almost three years away from the stage.

"When I got the suspension, it took a lot out of me mentally, but I was able to recover, and I think that lack of self-confidence was my biggest downfall," he said. "Muscle-wise everything was fine, but I lost out on the gold medal because the winner, was shorter than me, and as a result had more width."

Tucker does not care. He knows he looked good, and said his silver medal is like a gold to him.

"I just wanted to be in the top three because I didn't want to come back home without a medal. It was a privilege to compete again and for the country, and this medal signifies that I'm back and I'm ready."

Tucker said Greene and Brown also performed well.

Greene had a tough field. The winner in his division placed second in two prior CAC's. The silver medal winner is a professional.

He said, Brown, who competed in the fitness division, fought hard against tough competitors.

"Two out of three medals is great," he said. "If we had returned with just one we would have felt we went down there and did our best."

The three are now preparing to represent the country September 24-28 when The Bahamas hosts CAC.