Twenty-year-old sprinter Devon Bean might be the most unlikely of Bermuda's nine Olympians.

As little as six months ago, the 100 metres wasn't even his first or second choice event, and a trip to Atlanta might have seemed as far away as a mission to the moon.

Yet the affable Long Beach, California, student saw a golden opportunity, grabbed it with open arms and now can't wait to take his place alongside the track and field superstars, most of whom he's only ever seen on TV.

Ironically, Bean will step into his blocks at the Olympic Stadium on Friday morning at about the same time Brian Wellman begins his warm-up for the triple jump qualifying.

Wellman has long been the young Bermudian's source of inspiration. Until this season, triple jump was his main event, followed closely by the long jump.

Sprinting was merely a method of enhancing those two disciplines.

But that all changed when he surged down the track in a nippy 10.27 seconds to book his Games ticket at a California college meet just two months ago.

"At the beginning of this year all I was thinking about was triple jump and long jump. But each week my coach was putting me in the 100 and I was running faster and faster, and I ended up running 10.27 and the next thing I know I've qualified for the 0lympics,'' explains Bean.

"This is a dream come true. But what a lot of people fail to realise is that I've been doing this since I was seven years old. There's a lot of people who are more excited than me by the fact that I'm here in Atlanta.

"It wasn't my goal to reach the Olympics this year and obviously I'm happy just to be here. But it doesn't surprise me. I think I can run faster.'' Just how fast remains to be seen. But Bean's realistic enough to realise that with the likes of Linford Christie, Donovan Bailey, Frankie Fredericks and host of other sub-ten second athletes in the field, a place in the final is virtually unthinkable., "I think if I live up to my own expectations and I don't have any injury problems I can make it to the semi-finals,'' he adds. "To make it out of the semis would be very hard. A lot of guys are running sub-ten and I know at the moment I'm not quite up to that.'' Bean insists a leg muscle injury which prompted his return to California for treatment just a couple of weeks ago is no longer a problem. But he's not taking any chances and has declined an opportunity to also compete in the 200 metres. "This time I just want to stick with the 100. The injury's way behind me now, my legs are getting better and better and I want to give the 100 my best shot.

"When I ran that 10.27 I was still very inexperienced. I feel I can clip a couple of tenths off that. If I can do that and run a PB, I'll be very happy.''