At the age of 21, Gina Bass was the only Gambian female competing in athletics and was making her début appearance in the quadrennial event. She secured qualification to the Games because her time of 23.14 seconds, recorded at the Edmar Stade Lama in Remire-Montjoly in June 2016, exceeded the qualifying standard for her event, the women's 200 metres. Bass was the first Gambian athlete to secure qualification for the Rio Olympics and the second in her country's history to achieve the feat. Before the Games she said that she was "excited and focused for the road ahead" and did not think that she would take part in the Olympics while growing up. Bass participated in the event's fifth heat on 15 August, finishing fifth out of eight runners, with a time of 23.43 seconds.Overall she finished 52nd out of 72 athletes and was unable to advance to the semi-finals after being 0.66 seconds slower than the slowest participant in her heat who progressed to the next round. After the Games Bass stated the lack of running she had beforehand was partially responsible for her finishing position.