LEXEY SWALL-BOBAY / Staff

Dayana Octavien, a Lely High School graduate, winds up to throw discus during practice at Community School of Naples last week. Octavien hopes to qualify this summer to represent her parents' native country of Haiti in discus throwing at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

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After falling short of a trip to Beijing this year, Lely High grad Dayana Octavien seems bent on doing what she always does.

Pick up the discus. Throw it again.

Octavien, who spent the past nine months in Naples training toward an Olympic bid, won't waste any time beginning the chase for a 2012 berth, her coach said.

"I gave her two months off," said Kim Butts, who worked with Octavien as she hoped to represent Haiti, her family's native country. "Then we're going to bust it hard for four years."

A discus thrower, the 26-year-old Octavien is four years removed from her All-American career at the University of South Florida, where she was named Conference USA Female Track & Field Athlete of the Year as a senior.

Looking to make her first Olympic team, Octavien would have needed a throw of 59 meters, the Olympic B standard, to have a chance. A throw of 61 meters, the Olympic A standard, would have ensured a berth.

She notched a throw of 56.62 meters in Tampa during the spring. The deadline for her to achieve a qualifying throw, however, came and went this week.

"I wish I had something spectacular to tell you," Butts said, "but I don't. She just didn't make the mark."

Anthony Parker, the Haitian track and field coach, said that four athletes would represent the country in the competitions next month. All four are qualified in track events.

Octavien's best chance to join that group would have been to register a qualifying throw at the Central American and Caribbean Athletic Championships early this month. Parker took a team of Haitian athletes to Columbia for those competitions, but it only included athletes who'd already qualified for the Olympics.

Butts said that Octavien was disappointed that she didn't get the chance to make the trip. He said she was registering her best throws in practices leading up to that meet.

"We wanted to take a big group," Parker said. "The finances just weren't there."

Octavien will now turn her attention from Beijing to London, the site of the 2012 Games. And she and Butts, a Palmetto Ridge coach, plan to make it a four-year commitment.

Butts said that Octavien has accepted a job at Palmetto Ridge as a Spanish teacher. That will give her the opportunity to do all her training at the school. She will lift weights under her coach's supervision in the mornings and work on her throws in the afternoon.

As she trained for a Beijing bid, Octavien made most of her practice throws at the Community School of Naples. She lifted weights in the garage of her coach's home.

"I know she has the talent to do this," Butts said. "We just need to get her in a good situation."

Octavien's recent Olympic bid was her second in four years. The Miami-born thrower tried to land a spot on Team USA in 2004, but lost in the preliminary round of the Olympic Trials.

Butts said he expects Octavien, who has dual citizenship, to continue representing Haiti as she chases a 2012 berth.

"It's not a short cut," he said. "She's just proud of her heritage."