Junior career and Olympic debut Born in
Saint Mary Parish, Pusey attended
St Mary High School and established herself as a promising sprinter at the
Girls School Championships by breaking the
200 metres championship record. At the age of fifteen she took the
4×400 metres relay gold medal at the
1974 Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships in Athletics and was a
200 metres silver medallist at the senior
1975 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics behind
Lorna Forde. Pusey made her Olympic debut at the age of sixteen and she was the youngest member of the
Jamaican team for the
1976 Summer Olympics. She reached the semi-finals of the women's 200 m and helped the Jamaican
4×100 metres relay team to sixth place. She also ran with the 4×400 m relay team, but the Jamaican women failed to get the baton to the finish in the first round. She was fifth place in the 200 m at the higher level
1979 Pan American Games. Pusey sprinted in the
AIAW for the
Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles track and field team, finishing 3rd in the 200 m at the
1980 AIAW Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
1980 Olympics Pusey was again selected for the 200 m and the relay teams for the
1980 Summer Olympics. In the
women's 200 m she achieved a personal best run of 22.90 seconds in the semi-finals, but in fifth place she was narrowly outside of qualification for the final. The first relay event for Pusey was the 4×400 m. A quartet of
Ruth Williams-Simpson, Pusey,
Cathy Rattray and
Merlene Ottey failed to progress beyond the first round. The shorter relay gave Pusey a better chance of an Olympic medal, with Ottey,
Leleith Hodges and
Rose Allwood being some of the Caribbean's best sprinters. Shortly after the Olympics, Pusey ran a personal best for the 200 m in
London, recording a time of 22.82 seconds.
Career peak Pusey's career peaked in the 1981 season. She achieved personal bests in the 100 m (11.29) and 400 m (51.38) that year in
Ciudad Bolivar. In September she was chosen to compete for the Americas team at the
1981 IAAF World Cup. She became the first Jamaican woman to win a medal at the competition, taking the 400 m bronze in 51.48 seconds and also the 4×400 m relay bronze in an Americas team including
Charmaine Crooks,
Marita Payne and
June Griffith. Alongside
Bert Cameron (who was the men's 400 m bronze medallist) she became the first Jamaican athlete to win an individual IAAF World Cup medal (
Don Quarrie had won a relay medal in 1977). At the end of this season she was selected at the
Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year, dethroning Merlene Ottey, who had won twice consecutively (and who would have eleven further wins). The final two years of Pusey's international career saw much success in relay events. At the
1982 Central American and Caribbean Games she anchored a 4×100 m relay team of
Verónica Findlay,
Cathy Rattray and
Anthea Johnson to a silver medal behind Trinidad and Tobago. She led off a 4×400 m relay team composed of herself, Rattray, Johnson and
Sandra Farmer, and the quartet secured the bronze medal in that event. ==Personal bests==